


Exasperation is thy name

by LittleRoma



Series: Infusion Diaries [12]
Category: Captain America Civil War, Chicago Fire, James Bond (Daniel Craig Movies), Madam Secretary, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: BAMF Darcy Lewis, Jyn has other identities, Massive side-eyeing, Not Natasha Romanoff Friendly, Not Scott Lang friendly, Not Steve Friendly, Post Captain America: Civil War, Sensible Darcy, Team Iron Man, introspective, mildly humorous, not Team Cap unfriendly, not wanda maximoff friendly, slightly sarcastic in parts, swearing within guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2018-09-15 02:49:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 181,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9215426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRoma/pseuds/LittleRoma
Summary: Expanded from a one-shot, what if Darcy hadn't always been who she said she was, and had along with her old friends had went to take custody of the Rogue Avengers?  Darcy had been firmly on the side of the law and Tony Stark had been following the law (and not being selfish)?





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I started editing this to allow more cohesion (for once I actually have a plan).
> 
> It's not necessary to read and see all the Star Wars movies (and read the books) because I've summarised any information you need at the bottom of each chapter, but if I've missed anything, just let me know and I'll be happy to amend things =)

“Alright, well you guys know what we’re doing here don’t you?” Darcy started to rotate her neck around gently.

 

She didn’t want to have to deal with a sore and stiff neck before she entered into this mission.

 

“Yeah, we get in, and we get out, no muss, no fuss, right?” Jyn checked with her friends as she shook out her limbs.

 

“I knew I should have let you give her that awful book of puns; she only seems to come out with clichés now.  She can’t seem to speak without entering in an awful pun or clichés.  There is nothing more irritating on this backwards hellhole of a planet!” Cassian grumbled, rolling his eyes at his friends.

 

“Let me just get one thing clear Andor; you didn’t control me in the last Universe.  So, what in the name of Coruscant makes you think you’ll control me here or anywhere in the future?  If I want to make the most annoying clichés I can think of, then I damn well will!” Jyn retorted to the man, already beginning to become irritated with the man.

 

“Alright, that’s enough, what is the plan Cassian?” Darcy tried to remind the two standing in front of her before they got even further off topic.

 

“The plan is that the three of us dock at the above-water entrance to the ‘RAFT Prison’, I’ve got them expecting a ship to arrive bringing more supplies, but they are only expecting one person.  We need to separate almost instantly; I will go down to the backup power generators, five floors down and switch them to give us control of this prison.  When I have done that the prison will become in fact ours, only we can open the doors, and close them.” Cassian explained what his movements were about to be made up off as soon as he disembarked.

 

“I’ll be going down to the operations control room, ready to accept control from Cassian, I’ll be controlling the cameras, making sure that for now only we can see what’s going on.  While I’m down there, I will be ensuring that our movements today are not easily found, I will also be making a complete scan of the systems and personnel logs found aboard the RAFT, we want to be able to get into their movements and copy them onboard this spaceship.  This information will all be copied onto this tablet,” here Jyn gestured to the Starkpad she held in her hands, “after I have completed this, I will head up to the prisoner detainment part, where we shall move the prisoners.  Through the Starkpad, I will be keeping an eye on who is moving around me.  Until we get off the RAFT, I will be in complete control of the spaceship, afterwards, I might still be able to see who is in the RAFT prison, but I won’t be able to manipulate the doors as easily.”

 

“Good, I will make my way to the cells on the fourth floor, instantly, and make sure that we can open up their doors if we should need them.  I will work on knocking out the Prisoners until you two can come up and help me.  It’s important that our faces aren’t seen by anyone who could easily identify us later, try not to leave any prints, we don’t want to get Stark Industries in trouble.  If you have to subdue any of the security guards, or technicians or workers, just knock them unconscious, I don’t want to have to answer any questions later which we would rather avoid.

 

The pair nodded at Darcy, or as they knew her Dacia, lifting their hoods and general fae covers, before glancing at one another and separating readily to do what they had planned on doing.

 

Cassian made his way out of the spaceship quickly glancing around him, before making his way to the North set of interior stairs.  Ducking through the door, he took a quick stocktake of the stairway.  He couldn’t hear anyone, so far, so he carefully tip-toed over to the stairs and quickly made his way down, not wanting to fail this mission.  Slowing to an abrupt halt, when he heard the door between him and his final destination open.  Wincing to himself, Cassian took in a deep breath through his nose and glanced over at the railing, judging it to be strong enough to support his weight, he hopped over it to the surprise of the guard beneath him.

 

Grimacing as he saw that the guard had been interrupted, just as he stepped out to take a quick cigarette break.  Cassian found himself wondering at the man’s intelligence if he suddenly decided that taking a quick puff was a smart idea on a GLORIFIED SUBMARINE?  Fair enough, they might not be submerged at the moment, but if the man seriously thought that there was no better time to take a quick break, Cassian was well within his rights to question the man’s mental capacity!  Dispatching of the guard with a short kick-punch combination (sadly there was no time to work out his frustrations fully, not when he had to switch the power over to ensure that both Dacia and Jyn were going to be relatively safe.

 

Pulling open the door to the large, chilly room, containing the assorted blinking CPU towers and power grids.  Darting through the pseudo-corridors, he quickly found the lever and raised a hand to his left ear “Okay, I’m in, the power is switched over now.  Withdrawing a small screwdriver from his pocket, Cassian, ran his long fingers over the large stack in front of him.  His eyes were nervously darting over the large stack, biting his lip with his teeth, he watched with a thread of nerves running through him as the lights seemed to slow down in front of his very eyes.  He fancied that one of the lights looked a sickly green, time seemed to slow right down in front of his very eyes, before it turned into a dangerous looking red.  The colour was currently promising Cassian with dangerous things such as death and destruction, things he didn’t want to think about, right at that particular moment in time.

 

Stepping back from the stack, Cassian once again ran his eyes over the blinking lights and shook his head as if to shake the dangerous thoughts of destroying the stack in front of him.  He knew without even having to ask, that Dacia would want the general workers onboard this glorified Submarine to not be without oxygen or some power once they had left.

 

“We are a go; I repeat we’re a go, I’ll meet you up on the cell floor Kitty.”

 

_WHOOSH_

Jyn was stood in the control room, looking in at the engineers, hurriedly trying to work out why they had just lost control of the prison.  Smirking to herself, she pulled the door open and silently darted inside.  Looking around the small room, Jyn wondered why none of the engineers had looked around when they heard the _ZHUG_ of the door opening behind.  Rolling her shoulders behind her experimentally she put a foot forward and strode purposefully into the room.  Raising her left hand up high, Jyn made sure to strike each of the engineers carefully.  The absolute last thing she wanted to do, was to leave bruises and potential later health complications.

 

That wasn’t who she was.

 

Just to be safe though, she tied up the engineers, she didn’t want any of them suddenly waking up and making things difficult for her.  Tying their wrists together and then their legs, she smirked to herself and wondered how difficult it would be for the men to get free.

 

Reaching her hand into the small messenger bag she carried, Jyn pulled out the tablet device and looking at the computers in front of her.  Making a decision, she made her way over to the largest one in the centre of the room and deciding that she didn’t want to worry about the potential about connecting the device to the security system and download files over Bluetooth.  Jyn reached back into the small messenger bag and withdrew a small black USB wire, running her fingers over the polished black computer surface, she smiled to herself when she found one of the connector points.  Slipping the one end of the USB into the computer, she slid the other end into the Starkpad and rolled over one of the rolling computer chairs.

 

Not even five minutes later, her fingers were dancing over the keyboard in front of her, as she continued to sync up the StarkPad, she didn’t want to spare even a second and lose track of her thoughts, only to look up and realise that their small party was in even more trouble.  Grumbling to herself when she saw that all of the files were encrypted, she would have to download them in this form and work in conjunction with Cassian to try and work out later.

 

Trying not to grumble to herself when she realised that the StarkPad hadn’t yet completely downloaded all of the information, Jyn drummed her things up and down on her thigh.  For now, though, she could at least sort through some of the security measures on the RAFT prison, she didn’t for her group to be caught unawares.  Checking that she had the CCTV footage rewired and sent to her StarkPad, she decided on a whim to leave the engineers a nice little surprise for when they woke up.  Taking a second, she reset all of the CCTV footage, to show some of the guards performing Dance Dares in the corridors.  She didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, but she didn’t want to make it too easy for the proper authorities to get the prison back under their control.  Of course, that begged the question of whether or not there were any proper authorities directly responsible for the RAFT prison.

 

She could suspect from glancing through the file of Designation: Hulk that Ross seemed to have a massive hard for the green giant, who cares about his alter ego of Dr Bruce Banner?  She was aware of cross-referencing the files that one Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross was as xenophobic and power-hungry as some of the guys she had heard about from her old life.  Some old files on Grand Moff Tarkin surfaced in her mind as she thought about the man.  She was incredibly lucky not to have run into the man, but she could well remember having seen Director Orson Krennic at the sight of her Mother’s murder.

 

_Ever since the time she had begun to hate her father for the cowardly, monstrous actions he had undertaken since that horrible day._

 

Now, though she had learned that her father was not necessarily like that, she still felt conflicted about the man, because she wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to forgive the man for not doing more when her Mama was shot.

 

Shaking her head, to rid herself of the errant thoughts, Jyn glanced at the StarkPad and almost sighed in relief when she saw that the status bar on the device was almost complete.  Cracking her fingers, she carefully began to wipe any trace of her having been in the system.  Nope, they didn’t to see the footage of that impressive takedown by Andor of that stupid guard in the stairwell outside Level Four.  Jyn had to bite back the desire to snort when she clocked the almost disappointed look on Andor’s face.

 

Checking the StarkPad again, she was relieved to see that the StarkPad had completed its download and had taken copies of all the files.  Hurriedly disconnecting the StarkPad from its place within the computer, no time to check if it was safe to disconnect the device, she had other places to be.  Jyn made sure to check again and again that they wouldn’t be found.  At least not if the people weren’t from the Evil Empire that had so long ago taken over her Home Universe.  They might be able to get through Jyn’s hurried protection, but it was unlikely that these people would even know what they were looking at, never mind be able to combat it.

 

_WHOOSH_

Dacia was listening to this play-by-play in her ear, heaving in a deep breath as she tried to prepare herself for what she was about to do.  The lights flickered above her head, so she placed her hand in her robe before she pulled out a small pair of infrared goggles.  Glancing towards where she had earlier clocked the security camera, she smirked at the camera and shifted her weight from one foot to the other.  Smirking to herself, when the doors in front of her opened.

 

Darting through the door, as always she was very aware that she didn’t have the time to dawdle around, it wouldn’t do for them to get captured onboard the RAFT, time was critical here, and she knew that they wouldn’t have time to sit around and twiddle their thumbs simply.  Her hands darted back to her robes to grab a small piece of glass from her robes.  She was glad that for one thing, she had gotten Cassian to set up a small piece of hardware to make just such a mission even slightly easier.  Pressing at figure one, she looked up in alarm when she heard the near silent _ZHUG_ noise.  Storing the device back inside her robes, she darted across the cells.

 

Glancing once again at the number beside the cell, Darcy darted in and winced a little when she heard the loud, chainsaw reminiscent snoring of the man within.  Allowing a small smile to curve around her lips when she realised that she wouldn’t have to do a lot to ensure that the man lost consciousness, this should be easy to handle.  Making her way into the cell on silent feet, she briefly peered at the man lying sprawled on the small cot bed; she shuddered a little when she realised that the man’s hand had drifted over to rest above the crotch area of his orange prison jumpsuit.

 

Still, at the least, the guy hadn’t stuck his hand inside.  There were some things that not even the Force could suppress her gag reflex!  Leaning forward she gave the man a quick nerve pinch and taking another deep breath; she carried out the unconscious body.  Throwing the body over her shoulder, she tried to suppress the thought that the guy could probably stand to lose a bit of weight.  Darcy wondered if she should talk to Jyn about changing the man’s diet a little because she couldn’t deny the fact that she was slightly nervous about the guy.

 

Shrugging the thought away from her, she took the body of Designation: Ant-Man and placed him down on the floor in the centre of the large room which contained the cells.  Locking the man’s hands in front of his body, and thinking to herself that at least now the man wouldn’t be able to get free, she stepped back from the body momentarily.  Almost palm-slapping herself, she clicked another lock system into man’s legs together, not wanting to face the possibility that the man could get free.

 

Making her way towards the second cell, Darcy frowned before she opened the door to the cell.  She wasn’t sure how she was going to find Designation: Scarlet Witch, if Dr Stark’s last report through FRIDAY was to be completely accurate, Darcy felt as if she wasn’t sure what kind of state she wouldn’t find the woman in.  So, opening the cell with another near silent _ZHUG_ noise, she crept into the cell and had to bite back a curse when she realised that the woman was awake.  At least the brown eyes peering back at her, remained slightly blank, Darcy darted forwards and used another nerve pinch to make the woman lose consciousness.  Watching in a kind of morbid fascination as the woman’s tense body crumpled forward from her position in the centre of her cell.  Darcy briefly entertained the notion that even though the woman did not appear to be fully cognizant of where she was being held, it looked as if her muscles were locked into position.

 

Darcy shook her head once again and heaved the woman over her shoulder.  Frowning in consideration when she realised that the woman was of a dangerous weight, Darcy briefly looked at the woman and wondered if she had been starving herself.  Depositing her on the floor beside Designation: Ant-Man with more care than she had shown the man.  She carefully locked the woman’s hands together with her legs and carefully ran a finger over the shock collar. 

 

She didn’t think that here she had the right tools to take the collar off, for another thing, she didn’t want the woman to suddenly be able to use her powers while they were attempting to make their way out of the prison.  Darcy had been read in on what Designation: Scarlet Witch’s powers were, and the last thing she needed was for the woman to suddenly regain consciousnesses before they were safe and could contain the woman.  Darcy might be a great many things, but she didn’t want to add on the sin of being unable to protect her friends with all the cautiousness she could spare.

 

Shaken by her examination of the woman, Darcy looked up in alarm, having taken off her infrared goggles hurriedly, when she noted with a sense of unease deep within her belly, she wondered what the hell was going on in, with Jyn.  Reaching into her robes, she withdrew the StarkPad and hurried typed out a message to Jyn.

 

THOUGHT YOU SAID WE OWNED THIS PLACE STARDUST?

 

Darcy’s head whipped around when she heard the noise of Designation: Hawkeye begin to move around in his cell.  No doubt the man was going to spot her soon if his eyesight was to be as good as believed anyway.  She wondered if the man would recognise her, the only time the two had come into contact was during the Thor fiasco near Puente Antigo in the Chihuahuan Desert.  Then Designation: Hawkeye hadn’t had any reason to pay attention to the curvy, loudmouthed intern.  It was a bit of a toss-up as to whether or not the man would recognise her now.  Hearing the small wristwatch she wore beeping, Darcy glanced at it in alarm and heard the _ZHUG_ noise of the door to the cell block open behind her.

 

Tensing up a little as she realised that this was either going to be a problem for her or an even bigger problem for the Rogue Avengers.  Quickly glancing over her shoulder when she realised that it was simply Cassian, she breathed a momentary sigh of relief.  Nodding at the man, Cassian briefly gestured to Darcy to subdue the man, before he made his way over to the two prisoners.

 

Heaving in a great sigh of nerves, Darcy stood up and made her way over to Designation: Hawkeye’s cell.  Bouncing up and down from one foot to the other, as she prepared herself to storm into the cell.  Raising her finger, she tapped on the number three on the small bit of glass.  Making her mind up quickly, Darcy entered the cell to be greeted by the sight of Designation: Hawkeye beginning to ready himself into a fighting stance.  Entering into the cell, she narrowly ducked a backhanded slap, damn the man was still fast.  She countered the slap with a quick succession of punches from both her right and left hand.  Forcing herself to suck in a deep breath when the man abruptly lifted one of his legs and drove foot into her stomach, Darcy realised then and there that she would have to finish this fight quickly, at least if she wanted them to make their way out of the RAFT prison unimpeded

 

It was at that moment that Darcy realised that the foot in her stomach was probably intended to have more power behind it, but Designation: Hawkeye had allowed some of his muscles to become lax, in the months or years that he hadn’t been fighting.  Growling to herself, Darcy delivered a kick right into the man’s happy spot.  When the man leaned forward to clutch at himself, Darcy followed with an elbow to the nose.  Watching in satisfaction as with a pained groan, the man, slid down the wall of the cell, she shrugged to herself and ducked to scoop up the unconscious body of Designation: Hawkeye, none too carefully.

 

Yes, she might think that the man had allowed his muscles to become tense, but that foot to the stomach had still hurt!

 

Dumping the man’s body in the centre of the cells, she peered around trying to spot Cassian, or as she tried to remind herself, Angel – she should try to stop Jyn naming their code names after popular parts of culture.

 

Leaning back on her foot, she watched lazily as Cassian, made his way into Designation: Falcon’s cell, and took the man down with some small amount of difficulty, for one thing, the man was not so eager to go down.  Cassian had to bum rush the guy and slam him against the back wall of his cell, at least it seemed as if Angel was getting his fighting energy out of him.

 

With a wince, Darcy realised that it didn’t look as simple, she realised that it looked as if she had been lucky enough not to have such a difficult trio to subdue.  It looked as if the two men were going to be grappling for a while, or at least it looked like they were going to be fighting for a longer period.  Or at least it looked as it was going to drag on until Cassian managed to open palm strike the man at the back of his head.  Watching with a raised eyebrow as the man slid down the front of Cassian looking for all the world like he was unsure he would ever be able to get the man down.  Scooping the large body up, above his head, Cassian made his way over the centre of the cell block and with a loud grunt dropped the man on the ground like a large sack of potatoes.

 

The two were checking that their prisoners were securely fastened when they were interrupted once more by the loud _ZHUG_ sound.  Their heads whipped round in unison, and the two saw that it was only Jyn who had evidently finished up with her tasks up in the control room.  Nodding at two, Jyn quickly made her way across the room, already beginning to look a little unkempt at the edges.

 

“Guys, we have to get out of here, we’re going to have company, of the built-like-a-brick shithouse variety.” Jyn peered at the two.

 

“Alright, how long have we before we are interrupted by them?” Cassian asked with a grunt, as he heaved the bodies of both Designation: Ant-Man and Designation: Hawkeye over his shoulders as he chanced a look over a rapidly hurrying Darcy.

 

“By my calculation, less than five minutes,” Jyn whispered, looking as if she was worried about what the next part of their plan would entail.

 

Darcy nodded once and leaned over to pick up Designation: Falcon and Designation: Scarlet Witch.  Looking over at Jyn, she nodded her head once, to show that she thought that Jyn should small group out of the RAFT prison.  Jyn nodded her head once at the woman before carefully lifting her up and nodding over at Jyn to start moving.

 

Squinting over at her friends, Jyn’s hand dipped back into the small messenger bag she was carrying and clutched the StarkPad in her hands.  Glancing back at the two once again, Jyn led the way out of the large room.  Using her hand’s to make small signals to the two following her.

 

After a certain length of time, the small lop-sided group, froze when Jyn hurriedly threw up her fists, to try and halt both Darcy’s and Cassian’s movements behind her.  Jyn felt as if her heart was beginning to beat a loud staccato drumbeat in her chest.  Taking stock of the situation that the small group had found themselves in, Darcy realised that she had been incredibly foolish to expect that they would be able to get out of this situation with no great loss of life.  Depositing the unconscious bodies of both Designation: Falcon and Designation: Scarlet Witch on the floor, Darcy crept closer to Jyn.

 

The two of them had been working together for so long, that they had long since developed the ability to have near-silent conversations with one another.  It was a skill that had come in handy when they had been caught in dangerous situations and couldn’t risk speaking aloud for fear that they would compromise their whole position.  The two of them nodded at one another and split into two, each deciding that they could maybe take on one of the super-soldiers without too much difficulty.  Just in case, Cassian deposited the bodies of Designation: Ant-Man and Designation: Hawkeye, ready to back the women’s play if he was needed.

 

Not leaving even so much as an opportunity for the two to even take a small breath and tuck themselves into the shadows, they immediately launched themselves at both Designation: Winter Soldier and Designation: (Former) Captain America.  Darcy had been reading herself for reach for the Force, ready to defend herself at a moment’s notice if she needed to.  She managed to surprise Designation: Winter Soldier by getting a few good punches before he came to and began fighting back.  With a near silent snarl of rage, Designation: Winter Soldier kicked his legs up high.  Darcy noted idly that it didn’t seem as if the man had practised fighting with just the one arm.

 

It seemed to be throwing off his balance and hindering his ability to fight.  Darcy had to admit that she was a little disappointed with what had once been the metal fist of HYDRA.  Darcy could admit that in her time as Dacia, a Jedi Knight, she had fought against the likes of Anakin Skywalker and his later alter ego (yes she knew who or what was underneath the mask) a few times.

 

She could say one thing for the man; he did not seem to be running out of stamina soon.  He could claim that he hated working under HYDRA all he wanted until he was blue in the face, but he would probably always thanks them for a few hard-won lessons.  It seemed that Darcy would have to ‘go big or go home’ and knock this guy out.  She wasn’t sure if it would work in this universe or not, but she reached out with the Force and tried to work out if there was some way that she could fight the guy, using that, because this was seriously beginning to get tiring.

 

Darcy was worrying for nothing, however, when much to her surprise, she managed to get behind the guy and kick him forwards onto his knees.  When the man’s considerable body had hit the gangway, Darcy finished him with a quick slap, with so much force put behind it that his head almost spun around.  Sighing with relief as she watched the man’s body collapse to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.  Bending over suddenly as she tried to catch her breath after the fight, she would need to start working out a bit more on the spaceship, because of that?  That wasn’t a pleasant experience to her.

 

She didn’t like almost having her ass handed to her by a bunch of criminals.  Even if she was confused if she could term them criminals because technically they hadn’t been tried yet, though maybe that only applied to the term fugitives?  Sometimes this Earth’s Criminal Justice practices confused her!

 

At the same time, Jyn grinned evilly, as she faced Designation: (Former) Captain America.  She realised that she could probably go a bit easier on the man given all that he had lost, but Liana, Lyra, Kestrel, Tanith or Nari never went easier on any of their enemies, so why should she?  Her body was suddenly bending over backwards, as she ducked a half-hearted but desperate punch from the man.  She suddenly straightened up and leaping in the air, launched herself into a frenzy of high right and left kicks, towards both sets of ribs.  She felt herself suddenly catch when she felt a sudden unwelcome weight around her left ankle.  Wrenching her foot away from the man, she cursed to herself that was going to hurt her in the morning.  Ducking forward underneath the man’s swinging arms, Jyn was able to punch the guy hard enough to knock him out.

 

It would seem like Designation: (Former) Captain America had a glass jaw, and for now.  Jyn was glad that she had been able to take full advantage of this because otherwise, she wasn’t sure how long the fight would go on for, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to continue the fighting for too long.

 

Hitting the floor of the steel corridor, Jyn winced as she heard the almighty boom coming from Designation: (Former) Captain America, she couldn’t trust how long it would take from someone else to hear the boom and to investigate.  Bending over, she slid her fingers along the man’s patriotic jawline, searching for the pulse.  Almost feeling her knees bucking underneath her, when she found the pulse, at least she didn’t have to add once-superhero killer to her resume, a resume she had spent too long growing back at home in their Galaxy.  Shuddering to herself, she tried to work out how she was going to lift the solid Designation: (Former) Captain America; it wasn’t something she had much experience with, she honestly didn’t think Saw had ever prepared her to carry large dead weights.  Shame on the dead man for missing that part of her training.

 

Biting her lip, Darcy tried to judge the weight of the two men mentally.  It looked as if she would be able to support the weight.  Before she picked up Designation: Falcon and Designation: Scarlet Witch, she tapped Jyn, and when the woman turned to face her, she had a silent discussion with her eyebrows.  It was probably better that Jyn took the comparatively light Designation: Falcon and Designation: Scarlet Witch.  Darcy as Dacia had been exposed to carrying heavier weights, during her time as a simple Padawan had her well versed in the ability to carry large weight.  Even if those weights had mostly been old books, which she still found surprisingly heavy in more ways than one!

 

Even if she was carrying an overly large weight (and oddly shaped) like the two super soldiers on her back.

 

Nothing would probably even feel as heavy to her, as when she had to support a Wookie Cub with a bad ankle when the jungle planet Kashyyyk had been attacked.  Dacia was well aware that she would probably always carry that amount of fear with her.  To her, there was nothing more terrifying than when she was running through jungles and attempting to support a massive weight.

 

When the three had made their way onto the ship, Cassian breathed a hefty sigh of relief; he honestly hadn’t thought too far beyond his next move.  Ducking through the door on the spaceship, to the prison cells, Cassian opened the doors to what he knew would ultimately become Designation: Hawkeye’s and Designation: Ant-Man’s cell.  Dumping the bodies over his shoulder, he barely took the time to check whether or not Darcy and Jyn were following him.

 

Behind him, it seemed as if Dacia had run in, well as fast as she could run when she was weighed down by the massive weights over her shoulders.  Taking care to make sure that both Designation: Winter Soldier and Designation: (Former) Captain America’s cells were not beside one another.  She didn’t want the two of them to begin to break free from their cells and cause havoc amongst the rest of the prisoners.  Or for themselves, Darcy knew how difficult it would be for her to manage the safety of everyone else onboard the spaceship.  It would take to much for her to make sure that the cells were properly protected.  Somehow it didn’t strike Darcy as particularly smart (or safe) to allow other people (especially if they were prisoners) as particularly Jedi-ish to allow people to enter into danger.  Especially not if she could help it!

 

Jyn dropped Designation: Falcon in his cell and stepped back a moment.  Turn round on her heel; she looked down at the unconscious body of Designation: Scarlet Witch, she reached over for the StarkPad.  Paging through a few of the settings, Jyn smirked to herself when she saw confirmation on the screen that the spaceship would at least neutralise the woman’s power.  Jyn might not have a lot of time to go through the settings now, but she lifted a small light wrench and leaned over Designation: Scarlet Witch once again.

 

Sticking her tongue out of her mouth as she concentrated, Jyn frowned as she managed to get the large collar off the woman’s shoulders finally.  After what felt like a long amount of time concentrating on the collar in front of her, Jyn was finally able to lean back.  She watched as the collar popped off the woman in front of her.  Only making a noise when she hissed at seeing the deep red welts on the woman’s neck.  Making a noise once again, when she realised that it meant that the collar was digging into the woman’s shoulders.

 

As she was leaving the cell, Jyn tried to remind herself that she shouldn’t waste time feeling sympathy for the woman.  She was still not sure if the shoe was on the other foot, if the Rogue Avengers, the criminals would hold the same kind of sympathy if she was in their position.

 

_WHOOSH_

Scott came to with a sudden yelp when he heard an odd sound permeating his quiet.  There was no reason why he should have woken up, but the thing was that he didn’t automatically recognise the sound, it wasn’t the typical _ZHUG_ noise that he had gotten used to within the RAFT prison, but a cleaner sort of noise.  Scott idly wondered if he was doomed always to be aware of his surroundings, he guessed that it might be some holdover from already having been in prison.  It stood to reason, after all, he always had to be aware of any guards or even other prisoners coming near him, so much so that he reckoned that he hadn’t gotten a proper nights sleep in the very long period.  At least, not while he was in Prison the first time, he spent too long thinking of his past mistakes.

 

At least, the Criminal Justice system worked properly, but he could confess to wondering what had gotten into his head and made him think that going back into a scenario where prison time looked possible made sense.  He had struggled to re-enter his daughter’s life, for what reason had he thrown it all away?

 

Sam was sitting in one of the cell’s beside him, wondering at what point his life had made such a dramatic turn.  He didn’t think that he would ever regret having worked with Steve, but he did miss the days when _CLASSIFIED_ didn’t seem like such an everyday occurrence.  But then that begged the question of; had his life ever been simple?  Could he ever claim that had led an easy life?  He didn’t think it had ever been easy, at least not since he had enlisted, but there had to have been some point to wishing over a simple life, right?

 

But it was like his grandfather had always warned him, not to leave any injustice, not while he could still do something about it.  Unfortunately, his Grandfather hadn’t bet on Sam’s new surroundings; if he had, Sam wondered if he would still say the same thing?

 

Right now though, he couldn’t blame his Grandfather for the situation he currently found himself in, no matter how much, he might want to, but he couldn’t always play the blame game.  For now, though, it would be a good idea for him to simply sit down and take note of his surroundings, especially if he wanted to be able to get out of this.  At least partially unscathed in any way.

 

Steve woke up with a start, his jaw throbbing, though why his jaw was throbbing was a mystery to him.  The last thing he could remember was arriving at the RAFT Prison, ready to break out his fellow Avengers.  At least the ones that had fought on his side during the whole Civil War, attempting to throw off the shackles from the evil United Nations.  It, of course, went without saying that he was probably more interested in saving his best friend’s life, and he could only wish that Tony could understand that.  He didn’t like to fight against his friends, he was many things, but he was not a monster, the last thing he wanted to do was fight against Howie’s son.  This whole mess would get straightened out because it always did.  Or at least it did for him.

 

For now, though, he would just have to work out where they were.  Did he have to do everything around here?  His thoughts were interrupted however when he heard his best friend groggily ask

 

“Where the hell are we, Stevie what did you do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Liana Halik, Lyra Rallik, Kestrel Dawn, Tanith Panta, Nari McVee are all alias used by Jyn in Rogue One (this of course comes from reading the book, the movie doesn't go into Jyn's actions in evading both the Rebel Alliance and the Empire and a bit of googling).
> 
> Her Dad called her Stardust, which in the movie (as well as the book) is how they find the plans for the Death Star, which her Dad Galen has helpfully labelled Stardust.
> 
> Grand Moff Tarkin is one of Darth Vader's cronies, I suppose is the term.
> 
> Orson Krennic is the man who orders Jyn Erso's mother to be shot and killed.
> 
> Saw Guerra is the man who initially takes Jyn under his wing when she is a child running from Krennic's forces on Lah'mu. He later leaves Jyn behind and has become too militant for certain factions of the Rebel Alliance.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things begin to heat up for the trio, first chapter completely edited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry I've been quiet for so long, I had the cold and it was my Granny's anniversary there on Friday, my mind has been all over the place. I decided that I didn't like how the story was intially going, so I've rehauled it, tell me what you guys think.

Darcy was stood in the central control nodule of the spaceship, chewing over some thoughts she was still entertaining after the mission.  She knew that she really shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but right now she felt as if she had too.  She was honestly struggling with the idea that the mission had gone accordingly to plan, suspicious because plans almost never went her way.  That was part of the reason that she had become more of a scholarly Jedi, simply because of how clumsy she could be and unlucky at the best of times.

 

Goodness knows that at enough times during her Jedi Apprenticeship with Yoda she had been teased by the other novices that if she were participating in a plan where it wasn’t particularly dangerous, to begin with, then it would all go pear-shaped.  After one particular plan, when she had accidentally set fire to Qui-Gon Jinn’s robes and burnt off Mace Windu’s hair.  Something that still confused her, because there was nothing in the mission parameters that indicated any fire.  For pities sake, they weren’t on a planet like Mustafar, for pities sake they were in some of the beautiful forests on the planet Naboo, near Otoh Gunga.  It would probably always make her wonder how she managed to set two people on fire in a beautiful forest, approaching rainforest.

 

She could only surmise that Mace Windu had probably never quite forgiven her for that small misstep.  If the man weren’t a Jedi and didn’t completely subscribe to the Jedi teachings, she would guess that the man had probably never forgiven her for accidentally destroying his beautiful hair!  She guessed that Qui-Gon Jin was glad that he had gotten off, with just his robes, had cemented his rather odd friendship with Mace by growing his hair out long and not seeming to know what a pair of scissors could do.  Darcy could freely admit that she missed the two, even if she was pretty sure that Qui at least carried around a fire extinguisher, especially when he knew that he might run into Darcy.  Her talents were better spent in the library, even if she did sometimes wish that she had gotten out more.  Or at least flexed the ‘Force muscle’ so to speak, she could only guess that she might not have the number of problems with accessing the Force in this new Universe, it was beginning to become a bit of a concern for her.  She wasn’t sure of how she should begin to move forward if she couldn’t access the one thing that she had always taken for granted.

 

Shaking the thoughts out of her mind, she knew that she would have more time to obsess over the details later.  Sometimes she loved being insomniac and having difficulty sleeping! 

 

It was just so much fun to her, having an ability to beat herself up for any tiny problems she had made.  Given that she was one with the Force and all that crap, you knew that it had been a long lifetime!  It wasn’t widely known, but the Force could sometimes lengthen out one’s average lifespan.  Darcy had learnt this in her time spent studying in the great libraries, and some of the earlier temples.  She had been lucky enough to find Ahch-Too, which was either the First or the earliest example of Jedi-established Temple, which gave her a lot of supporting evidence to this theory.

 

She imagined it was not completely different to the lengthened lifespan enjoyed by the members of the RAC, particularly the Red Seventeen program.  It still annoyed her that she hadn’t gotten enough time to study those changes because she knew that it could become interesting to her.  For now, though, she would just have to resign herself to the knowledge that it may be her genetic buildup that gave her a longer than usual life.

 

Shaking her head once again, Darcy looked around the control nodule, at both Cassian and Jyn, she was shifting her weight from one foot to another as she wrestled with some of the thoughts in her mind.  She might not be able to put her finger on it, but she felt as if that mission had gone too easily.  Wouldn’t it make more sense if it was difficult for them to get in and out of the RAFT prison accompanied by prisoners?  She wondered how they had gotten away so easily, with barely a scratch on them after they had gotten out.  Shouldn’t someone have begun pursuing them when they were clear?

 

The thoughts didn’t make much sense to Darcy, and she didn’t want to begin looking a gift horse in the mouth, but the question remained why?  Why weren’t they being pursued by General Ross?  It would make more sense for the man to be desperate to run down the prisoners that had escaped through his fingers.  Darcy knew for a fact that if Wilhuff Tarkin lost any prisoners, then he would pursue said prisoners to the ends of the Galaxy if he had too.  Darcy suspected that he was able to do this because he enjoyed having the full weight of Emperor Sheev Palpatine and Darth Vader at his back.

 

“Guys, did that strike anyone else as being too easy?” Darcy asked, the worry clear in her tone.

 

“I wouldn’t say that it was completely easy, but something strikes me as a bit off about the situation.” Cassian mused, running an eye over the tablet in front of him.

 

“I don’t want to jinx us, but why aren’t we being followed?  We took the prisoners, didn’t we?  So why has nobody bothered to chase after us?” Jyn rubbed her chin, worriedly rubbing her fingers against her chin.

 

“There’s something that doesn’t strike me as sitting right.  I’m not spoiling for a fight or anything, but why did we manage to get away so cleanly?” Darcy asked, beginning to pull her hair in consternation belligerently.

 

“Jyn, you were looking at the files, did you manage to copy all of them before we got out?  Maybe that will give us some clue about their actions at the moment.  Or rather their lack of actions.  We need to know how to play the next few hours; I want to know if we should begin to make a hasty exit stage left.” Cassian sighed, massaging his temples as he thought of all the problems they were likely to face.

 

“Yes, I’ve got the files on my tablet, but I haven’t managed to look at them yet; they’re heavily encrypted.  I’ve got the K-2SO AI working with me to try and get into those files, but so far we aren’t having too much luck, but as soon as I’ve worked out anything from the files, you two will be the first to know.” Jyn grumpily sighed, trying to summarise what she had been trying to work on before being called in for a meeting.

 

“Do that.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to work out, why or how nobody is chasing us.  Do you still have anything in the computer systems at the RAFT?” Darcy instructed, already beginning to feel like a stress headache was looming.

 

“Yes, I can see into the system, so for example if the onsite computers create any new documents, I can look at them, and I can read them, but I can’t delete them or change around the information.  I figure that at least that way we can see what is happening and what their next moves are likely to be, but we can’t alter any steps taken against us.  If K2SO manages to do what I think he can do, we might be able to change _some_ information but not a lot if we want to remain quiet and under the radar.  We should take it as more important that we are not found though, right?  While I suspect that the systems would be easy enough for me to break into if I was working with some of the equipment we are used to being able to use from our home Galaxy.  Here, the systems are complicated, so it’s like learning to read English by starting to read one of the Classical English books.  K2SO is helping me with the laughably rudimentary, yet at the same time paradoxically confusingly, encryption; it is still proving to be difficult to me for me to do alone.” Jyn tried to explain some of her reasoning further, still not sure if she was making a lot of sense.

 

“Can you leave it with him, we need to go and speak to the prisoners, welcome them onto this spaceship now?  At least before they start to get antsy and we end up having to deal with a bunch of criminals before we are ready.  We probably aren’t particularly ready to deal with their particular brand of assholery before the day is out.”  Darcy gently asked the woman.

 

Darcy was looking across at Jyn, who was stood massaging her temples in concern for the woman.

 

“Yeah, we should deal with those people before they start thinking that they can simply fight their way out of this situation.  I know we can take them, but I don’t have the kind of patience necessary to deal with them breaking out.” Cassian gruffly spoke, a tone of ever suffering patience clear in his tone.

 

Jyn and Darcy exchanged looks at their friend's voice.  They were both well aware of what could easily happen if the six prisoners should get free.  Cassian at least seemed to be in a murderous mood, and they didn’t want to be stuck holding the bag if the man decided to act on those feelings.

 

Goodness only knew how efficient the man could be if he put his mind to it!

 

“Okay, before we go down there, are we letting them know who we are?” Jyn checked, biting her lower lip.

 

Darcy paused in consideration as she thought through some of the issues that suddenly occurred to her.  She asked herself if she should let the former Avengers know who they were, was it even worth allowing them to know?  She was also forced to question whether or not it seemed completely likely that Designation: Hawkeye would even recognise her.  She was willing to bet that even if the man had come across her in New Mexico (Darcy was well aware that she didn’t have to see the other person for them to watch her), he likely would have been distracted by her boobs.  It was only slightly alarming to realise that she didn’t always get frustrated when guys noticed her boobs before they realised that there was a person attached to them.

 

She did, however, realise that the man was supposed to be a former assassin, so she figured that she couldn’t count on the man becoming distracted by her sweater puppies.  She had been around Cassian long enough, to know that when a sniper focused on a goal everything else seemed to melt into the background for him.

 

It still unnerved her when the man turned that attention to her, especially when she had accidentally eaten the last of the man’s sugary cereal.  Why was the man attempting to hide his love for the overly sugared cereals, as far as Darcy was concerned the things were too high in sugar for her to enjoy every day?  It was also pretty obvious that the man could sometimes be found guiltily scoffing down a bowl of the brightly coloured cereal, with the air of a man with a terrible secret.

 

But she realised that when all was said and done, the guy was still a guy so that she couldn’t put her money on whether or not the man would recognise.  Especially when she was very careful not to register as a threat, even when it had been very hard for to keep up the irksome ruse.  At least now she would know if her acting abilities had held up, which she hoped that they had.

 

As Cassian would point out, the fewer people who remembered them, the better.  They weren’t from this Galaxy and were simply looking for some way to take shelter before entering back into their Galaxy.  Either that or the man didn’t think that the intern required more than a brief overview, which hinted at lazy intelligence gathering.  She supposed that this might have hinted at their downfall due to HYDRA.

 

“For now, we should keep our faces covered, at least until we are away from this place.  We don’t want to give them any clues needlessly about who we are, without giving away our whole game,” Darcy told the two, after a moment’s hesitation before she continued “it might be an idea for us not to attempt to cover up our faces completely.  If they catch sight of a small part of our faces, it wouldn’t be the end of the world after all.  Might throw them off their game, if they suddenly realise that someone can see them, and see the bullshit they are trying to sell.”

 

The other two nodded over at Darcy, and gently pulled their hoods up, making sure that they would still have a bit of slip with the hoods, the last thing they wanted was to keep the prisoners needlessly frightened.  Even if it was more likely that they would remain tense once they saw who held them and didn’t completely recognise the faces of their new jailers.  Making their way from the room, the three made their way through the spaceship, knowing without even having to ask, where the prison cells were.

 

It would probably always amuse Jyn that the cells were referred to as prison cells because in her experience, rotting in some of the more disgusting prisons in the Galaxy, the cells seemed completely palatial and private.  She could well remember being stuffed into cells, sometimes into over-crowded cells, which had very little by way of privacy or even quiet.  Some of the things that she could remember leaking their greenish tinted sludge were dripping down the walls would probably always haunt her.

 

_WHOOSH_

Walking into the cells, Cassian realised that he had missed the delicious sense of panic when the Prisoners came too suddenly realising that they didn’t know where they were.  Exchanging a brief look with Jyn, the two of them nodded to indicate that they would later watch the tapes back, most likely with a large bowl of popcorn to split between the two of them.  Dacia could join in if she wanted too.  They weren’t fool enough to stop the former Jedi Master, simply to save their sweets from the woman.

 

“So, I’m guessing you lot know why you are here.  We don’t need to explain that bit, do we?” Cassian asked lightly, he wasn’t completely sure what answer he would get back but knew that he had to ask.

 

“Why the hell are we here?  Where are we?  It’s Stark’s fault, isn’t it?  It usually is.” Designation: Hawkeye exclaimed angrily.

 

“Believe it or not Barton but it’s not always _Doctor_ Stark’s fault, this time is your damn fault.  What made you think it was a smart idea to jump when Rogers called?” Darcy sneered at the man, still not completely following the man’s logic.

 

“Mmm, you’re right, but we won’t go into the whole sorry affair of why exactly you believe THAT to be true.  What we want to know is why, exactly you just choose to jump at the word of Rogers, because he was simply telling you to take the words of an amnesiac former Super Soldier, who still on his worst days didn’t know his name?  We can’t be sure if Rogers gave you complete information, certainly not a complete picture.  Was there a reason, you decided to jump up and leave your family behind?  From where we are sitting, there doesn’t seem to be any good reason.  So, would you like to tell us why you decided to go?” Cassian sneered, he found himself completely unable to believe that a spy could ever have been so lackadaisical about how easy it was for him to simply walk away from everything he had ever had.

 

“He gave us good information, about a group of Super Soldiers, that even HYDRA deemed as too unstable even by their notably lax standards.  He told us that he had received intel from Barnes that there was still a group of four of them left in cryostasis that he needed help disposing off.  He said that Stark would completely disregard the information, that he wouldn’t even listen to it.  That we had to work to solve the problem.  That because Stark had become beholden to the stooges at the UN and the US government, that he would disregard this information.” Designation: Falcon spoke beginning to look like he was thinking through some of his earlier decisions.

 

“SHUT UP, WILSON” Designation: (Former) Captain America roared before hissing at the man “they don’t need to know about Siberia; they don’t need to know what happened in Siberia.”

 

“Oh, no, because you see what you are trying to prove here?  You know that we still haven’t been able to figure out what exactly happened in Siberia.  You see, Dr Stark still hasn’t woken up, so we can’t rely on him telling us what happened there.  But don’t worry, not all is lost, for one thing, we are in the process of receiving some of the medical notes.  Boy, do they paint a chilling tale of what you lot did to the guy, but hey we don’t care what happens to you, but we do know that if you confess to what exactly happened, your eventual sentencing could go a bit easier.”  Jyn shrugged.

 

At this point, Cassian looked down in alarm, as he began to notice that the tablet he still held in his hands was beeping and vibrating.  Swearing under his breath, he began to frantically tap at the screen, before looking up with a crazy look in his eyes.

 

“Guys, it looks like we are about to get company, make sure you get yourself to a seat with a belt, it looks like right now, we’re about to have a bit of a rocky ride.” Cassian hissed at both Dacia and Jyn before attempting to dart from the room quickly.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Cassian launched himself from the room, running through the rest of the spaceship, not wanting anything to happen, at least, not on his watch.  Almost colliding with the doors and walls, as he hurried through the spaceship, with one hand flung out to stop him from colliding with the solid silver coloured walls of the spaceship.  He knew that he couldn’t afford to hurt himself by running himself into the internal walls of the spaceship before he could sort out any of the potential problems.  Gasping as a sudden sharp burst of pain bloomed and his hande accidentally rammed his wrist into the wall.  Shaking his wrist as he took the tight turn over the silver gantry leading him into the cockpit.

 

Still shaking his hand out and he ran into the cockpit, threw himself into one of the seats and pulled one of the sets of headphones over his ears.  Flicking a few of the switches up and down, he tried to get through some of the pre-flight checks as quickly as he possibly could.  The only reason he was going through the check-list, was because he had had the act of going through the simple guidelines completely drilled into him, and he was well aware of the idea that some habits died hard.  When Cassian felt that he had enough of the checklist gone through, he tried to speak calmly and rationally into the headphones.

 

“Okay, Bodhi, what do we have out there and should I fly with the wind at our backs, do we need to worry yet?” Cassian tersely asked, speaking to the AI that had long since helped him pilot the spaceship.  Maybe it was more than a little strange that they had the voice of a dead Empire pilot helping them with their manoeuvres, but if the voice could help Cassian, then who was he to say no?

 

“It looks, Agent Andor, that we have picked up a tail, for now though, we seemed to have picked up a tail.  My calculations indicate that we will need to seek some quick exit, at least if we want to avoid a conflict.  We don’t want to show these people what we are capable off, would you like me to pull evasive manoeuvres?” Bodhi asked, his voice not becoming strained as he kept his digital eyes on the planes that had been dispatched to follow them.

 

“Yes, pull evasive manoeuvres, something tells me that even repairing a glancing mechanical fault with the spaceship could be a bitch to repair,” Cassian muttered, looking through some of the numbers in front of him.

 

Reaching a hand behind him, Cassian pulled the seatbelt across his chest and over his legs, before leaning towards the large microphone protruding from the console in front of him “People, this next part could get messy so strap in, and we’ll get out of this in no time.”

 

When he had the rest of the people warned, he leaned over and began flicking switches quickly, to an outsider it probably looked like he was flicking switches with no care as to what was going on with them.  But Cassian was very comfortable with the fact that he had long been piloting these ships, at this point, he suspected that he could well pilot the ship in his sleep.  But when it came to the potential for conflict and having to fly quickly, he would rather have the soothing voice of the BODHI AI to guide him to safety.  There were just sometimes when he did not trust his abilities on their own to save his and his friend’s life.  Along with the spaceship!

 

Right now was a perfect example, because he honestly wasn’t sure what the firepower of those planes attempting to chase him was like.  He briefly wondered if he should automatically assume that the spaceships had capabilities like the TIE Fighters he had spent so long running from.  Shaking the thoughts from his head, as he briefly mourned that the spaceship was beautiful, but it was no X-Wing Starfighter that he would be confident he could safely pull off the tight evasive manoeuvres.

 

Briefly overcome by a short burst of nostalgia, Cassian clasped the toggle in his hands and narrowing his eyes, pulled off some of the riskier manoeuvres in his life.  Ignoring the fact that he was wondering whether or not his friends (and the prisoners) had put on their seatbelts, he knew that if they hadn’t, then they would more than likely be getting bounced around. 

 

After a while, Cassian breathed out a great big sigh of relief when he avoided the small planes, frowning down at the monitor in front of him.  He frowned as he began to go through how long it would take for it to become an even bigger problem that he would need to start worrying about.  Running a hand through his hair, his chest heaving up and down, as he considered how close it had been to the destruction they had been to something disastrous.

 

Making his way through the gangways of the spaceship at a slightly more sedate pace than when he had been making his way down.  Reminding himself not to start humming under his breath.  He didn’t want to lose any semblance of his being a serious person, even if the prisoners wouldn’t be able to hear the man, he didn’t want to open himself to having forgetting himself.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

“Sorry about that, but I have dealt with the problem, we won’t have to worry about it any longer.  At least, not for a while.  But were you guys able to find out any more information, or do you want to work out if you want to leave the problem alone for a while?” Cassian asked when he ran up to his friends in the corridor immediately outside the prison cells.

 

“Well, so far, none of them seem particularly clear on how they got here and what their actions may have led him to this point.  Right now, I’m more concerned about how we can get out of this situation?” Darcy frowned.

 

“Right, that’s fair enough, but we do want to know if we should get into contact with Ms Potts, see if she wants us to take any further actions before we go through with this.  Would you like to pull the spaceship in a small cove and I can go out and see if I can do anything for the Spaceship.  Somehow, I imagine that if we should need to prepare to run, we won’t be given time to slow down!” Jyn offered.

 

She didn’t want them to get into more trouble, at least not while she could still do something that she could perform even a quick patch job to fix.  At this point though, she was well aware of the fact that she would need the help of Cassian.  Even if she was well aware that sometimes her rather odd brand of ingenuity could see things where even Cassian couldn’t.  She honestly thought that it was all luck and a fresh pair of eyes seeing something that the normally brilliant pilot couldn’t see.

 

“Sadly, for now, I think if we ran the risk of setting down anywhere, we would risk immediate notice.  So far, though, I don’t think that’s anything for us to be concerned about.  Might be an idea if we simply keep in mind, but we should keep an eye out and our ears to the ground, just in case we find somewhere that we can set down.  Right now, though, that isn’t important, what do we do about the prisoners, we can’t hold them long term, no matter how much we might want too, it just isn’t feasible for us.” Cassian told the woman, grumpy at some of the risks they had already had to undertake.

 

“Cassian is right, but for now we can’t do anything but hold them, at least we can be sure that we can hold them.  At least they are not all in the same cell, that would cause me even more concern.  Okay, I’ll get into contact with Ms Potts and Ms Hill, we need to know if they want us to do anything in particular with these people.  Jyn have a look at the security measures in place; I don’t want any of them being able to get free and surprise us.  Cassian go through the logs for the rest of the ship, we want this place running ship shape completely, I don’t like even the possibility of being surprised.” Darcy instructed her two friends, knowing at that point that what they needed at this point was to have a clear mission to follow.

 

Darcy watched as the two nodded at her,  before darting off to do their tasks.  Taking a deep sigh through her nostrils, she peered at the two running away from her, as she prepared to make a start in her tasks.  Making her way through to the central nodule of the ship, she pulled out a desk chair and carefully lowered her weight into it.  Leaning forward, she ran her eyes over the array of keys in front of her before lowering her hands to the keys.  Sighing, a little in pleasure as her fingers began their familiar dance over the keys in front of her, right now she knew on an instinctive level what she wanted to do.

 

Opening up the secured email list, Darcy paused for a second as she began to think through some of the actions that she knew she was about to undertake.  Flicking through the names in front of her, a frown crossed Darcy’s face, as she prepared to do what she was about to do.  Momentarily leaning back in the seat, as she paused to gather her thoughts before a small smirk crossed her face and she leaned forward again.  Briefly shifting her weight from one bum cheek to the other, she shook her head, clearing the thoughts of indecision from her mind and began to compose an email, not wanting to forget about any of the details that she knew she would have to bring up and query.  Attempting to reconcile herself with the knowledge that this next bit might be difficult to undertake, but she felt that it was one that she would have to take.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

 

In the cells, the prisoners were all looking at one another, seeming to forget that they had once been teammates.  As one they seemed to be judging each other weaknesses, which they could begin to put stress on, who would be the most likely to crack first.  Scott for one was wondering why he had ever let himself be pulled into this frankly ridiculous situation.  He was beginning to realise that it was not in his best interests to rely on one old man for his opinions on everything.  Scott knew what people were likely to say about someone in his position, a formerly convicted criminal, in the first place trying to get a job was an almost impossible task.  Even though his former crime had not been a violent offence, he still saw the look on some people’s face, when they heard that he had a criminal record.

 

Not for the first time since beginning this whole Superhero gig, he wonders if he was doing the right thing.  Something told him that he wasn’t because, in his more cynical moments, he still saw the looks on faces when people realised that a felon had just saved their lives.

 

“Guys, what did we get ourselves into, why were they hinting about Siberia?  What does that have to do with anything?” Scott called out, peering over at Captain America’s cell.

 

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering that, because when he left us in those cells on the RAFT, he was fine, but what happened there?” Sam’s voice rang out, trying to contain some of his fury.

 

“Who cares about that man, it is fault we are in this position, to begin with, does anything about him have to concern us, beyond him getting his head out of his ass and out of this situation?” Clint asked, frowning at the silent Wanda’s cell, he was beginning to become concerned about the woman and her continued silence.

 

Scott darted a glance over at Barne’s cell; he could see that the man had become like a closed off book.  Scott could remember that before the fight at the airport, the man didn’t look like he was completely there.  Scott wondered briefly to himself what demons the man was wrestling with.  If he guessed correctly, the man, if it was indeed the Winter Soldier, had no shortage of demons to wrestle with, but he couldn’t force his way in, there were some things that you couldn’t do for another person.

 

“He, ah was fine, he received some startling information that’s all, but look he just needed to cool down, he was attacking Bucky” Steve protested, for what Scott was privately sure wouldn’t be the last time.

 

“What do you mean he just needed to cool down, the man never needed to stop and cool down, sure he sometimes loses his temper, but he wasn’t one to let his emotions rule over him. ” Clint sharply asked before musing “Part of his businessman persona coming through I suppose” some of his latent abilities as a super spy coming through in his tone.

 

“I meant exactly what I said; he was fine.” Steve retorted, trying to shut down the line of questioning that he didn’t particularly like.

 

“But Steve, man, they said that Stark hadn’t woke up.  What did you do?” Sam breathed, coming to a sudden realisation that he may have played his cards all wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Qui-Gon Jinn was played by Liam Neeson in the Phantom Menace, he died at the hands of Darth Maul
> 
> Mace Windu was played Samuel L. Jackson in the prequel movies, Samuel L. Jackson is so cool.
> 
> Mustafar is the volcanic planet where the Sith Lords rise from and Darth Vader later makes his home.
> 
> Otoh Gunga is the underwater city shown on Naboo in the Phantom Menace with Jar Jar Binks.
> 
> Ahch-Too is the first maintained Jedi Temple shown in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi (this caused me a bit of excitement because these bits were shot on an island off Ireland).
> 
> Red 17 comes from Killjoys, it is a program that is used to ilegally enhance the upper members of the RAC, to make them better killing machines. This information could be wrong, because I've only seen up to and including Season 2, Netflix UK doesn't offer any more =(


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not really a lot happens to the prisoners, Jyn struggles with some things and Cassian doesn't understand

Jyn sighed and rubbed a hand over her hair; she wasn’t sure what would be the best way for her and her friends to get out of this mess. For one thing, she knew that she would have to handle it because she wasn’t sure if Cassian or Dacia would know how to handle this particular issue. Thinking on the matter, Dacia wasn’t sure if she would know how to handle the problem if she hadn’t previously had some experience working on the particular issue. Or at least the background issue to know why she needed the issue to be relentlessly dealt with and quashed before it became a big thing.

Jyn could easily admit that she did not have the best opinion of Designation: Scarlet Witch. For one thing, she couldn’t understand how the woman, because Jyn was of the opinion that while the woman had been forced to grow up early, her age on her passport still put the onus of legal responsibility on her shoulders. The point, though, was that Jyn similarily hadn’t had the greatest start in life, but she had an illegal terrorist group. She had even avoided throwing in her lot with the Resistance, having bigger concerns that fighting for the Universe. Most notably she spent a long time fighting for her survival (and from time to time answers), never mind that she didn’t particularly find herself too keen on the looks of suspicion that her mere presence inspired.

It was some of her earlier experiences in prisons across the Galactic Empire, using names such as Liana Halik or Lyra Rallik or Kestrel Dawn, Tanity Panta or Nari McVee, which she felt gave her a unique insight into some of the plights that Designation: Scarlet Witch was now facing. She only had to work out how they could negate her powers without making her too uncomfortable. It was already proving to be a bit of a headache, at least she supposed that judging by the fact that the K-2SO told her that she had sighed more than 40 times in the last twenty minutes.

Smiling ruefully to herself while she accepted the chiding, Jyn lifted her hand and slid the scrunchie off her wrist. Using the other hand, she ran her fingers through her hair, wanting nothing more than to get this problem sorted out. Looking at the computer screen in front of her, Jyn clambered to her feet and began to walk around the office, wanting to stretch out her stiff limbs.

“Oh dear, it seems as if this is going to be a big problem to deal with, you have tied back your hair.” K-2SO snarked at her.

“Oh shush you, this is going to be a complicated matter to deal with, and I don’t need to listen to your passive-aggressive comments to do a good job!” Jyn warned the AI hotly.

“You know I will never understand human behaviour, Cassian always did things that I wasn’t sure of either.” The AI lamented.

“I know you are more than capable of understanding the intricacies of human behaviour. Weren’t you an Imperial Droid before working with Cassian?” Jyn wondered aloud.

“The staff that make up the Empire, are a bit easier to understand, they don’t allow themselves to be guided by emotions. The Resistance was a touch more emotional and sensational about things” K-2SO sniffed.

Jyn smirked at the ceiling and wondered what Cassian would say if he could hear K-2SO was saying. She knew that the man was unlikely to like if he heard what his former robot K-2SO was expressing.

Stifling a snort of laughter, Jyn made her way over to one of the large workspaces in the small room. She knew that what she was writing on would probably be termed as something similar to a Whiteboard, but Jyn couldn’t be sure. All she knew for definite was that it was a piece of technology that Dacia had brought from their home Universe. Taking one of the assortment of pen style styli that was standing in a jar-type object that was hooked via a velcro type substance to the side of the large interactive board. Jyn carefully uncapped the pen and shifted her weight from foot to foot as she stared at the board in front of her.

Scrawling in big letters, she carefully printed the name Wanda Maximoff / Designation: Scarlet Witch. Beneath the letters, she wrote in a different colour, snorting at herself when she realised that she was now using a reddish coloured pen, she wrote in a flowing script, manipulates probability and influences minds. Cocking her head to the side, she scrawled beside the words; can manipulate minds but unclear on whether or not she is talented enough to pull off a long-term manipulation of the mind. Stepping back to peer at the words, Jyn once again cocked her head to the side and thought to herself how much she should include in this part.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind like an errant fly, she made a few further gestures before she flicked her finger on the small group of styli and lifted one of them. She was prepared to go further into some of the things that she needed to think about, but still feeling that she needed to make notes to assimilate her thoughts better. Pulling at the lower lip with her upper teeth, Jyn nodded to herself once as she made up her mind on what she wanted to write next. Squashing her handwriting even further, Jyn made a few more notes on some of the problems they could well expect to encounter next;  
• We need to ensure the safety of the spaceship, of the people abroad the ship both the prisoners and ourselves.  
In handwriting that was still slightly smaller beneath, Jyn scrawled a note to herself that she would need to double check if it was suspected that Designation: Scarlet Witch’s powers were connected to her mental health. She didn’t to fear for the safety of everyone else onboard the spaceship if the woman were to have a bad day.  
• Check whether or not the woman can use mind control.  
Frowning briefly at the words in front of her, Jyn made a clarifying note for herself; she honestly wasn’t sure if the woman could use her mental manipulation powers in such a refined manner as to guide someone else’s actions. Jyn was well aware that it was likely to be a thought that would keep her up at night, certainly if she wasn’t able to research for herself the likely outcomes. Attempting to suppress a shudder climbing up her spine as she wondered whether or not Maximoff had been unconsciously relying on her powers to make life difficult for others intentionally. Or if she was so immature as to want to make things difficult for others with no fear of reprisals for herself.  
In yet another colour underneath Jyn scrawled another note to herself,  
• We need some system whereby we can control whether or not Designation: Scarlet Witch has unrestrained access to her powers, she could do a lot of damage that way if she were so inclined.  
Drawing a box around her previous words, she knew that she would have to keep coming back to them. 

“Ms Erso, it would be prudent to remember that we may need some system in place in case Maximoff has been influencing the other Avengers. It is possible that we could have another problem on our hands if the other Avengers come back to their minds while they are still secured on this spaceship.” AI: K-2SO spoke evenly as his android mind raced through some of the possible ramifications of holding the dangerous woman on their spaceship.

Jyn briefly thought to herself for a few seconds before she nodded to herself silently acknowledging all that the former Andriod told her. She knew that the two shared an almost antagonistic relationship, but she could acknowledge that the AI had good ideas that sometimes hadn’t even occurred to Jyn. It was prudent for her to keep looking at the solutions offered before K-2SO (no matter how much of an asshole he could be) could see threats before they began to even occur to Jyn.

Tappin her finger along the board in front of her, Jyn wrote the words directly underneath the last piece of writing. Before stepping away from the board, Jyn boxed the words and momentarily froze, with her head cocked to the side. Nodding to herself resolutely, Jyn tapped the blinking save button and then wiped the screen of the words and peered around the small room she was about to leave. Satisfied that the room was tidy enough for her not to feel guilty when exiting the room, Jyn pushed the stool she had earlier been perched in underneath one of the lab style tables and swiftly made her way from the room.

WHOOSH

Weighing up her options in the silver corridor, Jyn made her way towards the room where she knew she would be able to find Cassian. Rubbing her hands together to try and force a little heat back into the cold extremities, she quickly made her way through the quiet corridor to the room where she knew that she would be able to find the man. Jyn knew the man well enough to be able to guess that the man would be situated in the small engineering cubby – it was where he could always be found if he felt stressed, or if there was anything he wanted to hide from, coward that he was! Jyn knew that she was truly no different, if she didn’t have anything pressing to do, then she would find her solace in the quiet of the engineering cupboard. As far as she was aware the only one of the trio that did not seek the solace of the small room surrounded by a myriad of spanners, wrenches, torques and a small variety of engine oil was Dacia. She was more likely to be found in the library room of the spaceship when things got tough for her to deal with and work through.

Stepping through the door to the engineering nodule, she silently watched her friend for a few moments. Taking the time to gather her thoughts while she waited for Cassian to turn off the heated tool he was using. It would do no good for the two of them to have to deal with some errant flames while the two were trying to have a reasonable discussion. Waiting for a few moments, she waited until the man could turn his full attention to her.

“Hey, Cassian, do you have a moment to talk to me about the problems with regards the prisoners in the cells?” Jyn asked softly, knowing that she felt as if she had to get an answer.

“Yeah sure, I’m guessing that you are thinking about what could happen if one of the prisoners becomes fed up with our unique brand of hospitality?” Cassian guessed, glancing up at Jyn.

“I am a bit concerned about how we can deal with their unique skillsets should they not care about remaining in the amount of security we can hold them in. Tell me if I am wrong, but while I do think that Designation: Scarlet Witch is the biggest threat, or at the biggest threat to us, the rest of them are potential threats. Is there any of system that you can think of that we can use about safely containing them? We need some form of protection, but we need to make sure that we do not go overboard. We are all about customer satisfaction on this spaceship after all.” Jyn finished sarcastically.

“I have got an idea that we can use to look after the cells in this prison, but the absolute last thing we want is to put them in the frame of mind where escape starts to look like a valid option. Do we have any information yet on what the woman is capable of? We don’t want to not wake up some morning because she has taken it on to oh yeah, start a mutiny! It would be a major waste of time, if we start making improvements to this spaceship needlessly, only to find out that we do not need them.” Cassian started

“That’s your burgeoning idea face, what are you thinking of doing?” Jyn asked, curious as to what would inspire that particular look on her friend’s face.

“I don’t think it’s anything, but when we started to come around with only Dacia for the company and the beginnings of two AI system, I confess that my paranoia started to run my decision-making process. I didn’t want for us to be put in the same position again, so I may have some additional upgrades to the spaceship, without telling Dacia.” Cassian winced, already know what his friend’s reaction was going to be, without even having to check.

“Wait, this wasn’t around the time when you didn’t know if you could trust Dacia, so you spent hours skulking around this spaceship, and didn’t tell us what you were doing? That time? What did you do?” Jyn’s voice took on a warning tone, as she massaged at her temples, trying to rub away some of the frustration she was currently feeling.

“Yeah, I managed to work around some of the protocols on this spaceship, to make it limit how easy it could be for someone to reach the Force in this gloried tin can. At first, I wasn’t sure if we could trust Dacia, I have been through enough battles to know that is not something I want to go back to. Not now, not when we finally know what it is like to feel peace. The small upgrade I made was to make sure that no one would be able to use the Force offensively against us again.” Cassian started defensively, attempting to explain some of his reasoning. 

“You know that Dacia has been struggling to reach the Force though right, it’s making her feel poorly, what the hell were you thinking? Do you even know what you were thinking? Does she know what you did?” Jyn tried to reign in her temper, something that she could already sense that she was attempting to fight a losing battle with.

“No, how was I supposed to tell her anyway! Should I walk up to her and say hey remember we didn’t trust each for a while, I might have put a line of security code onto this spaceship to make you feel bad. But hey it’s okay, we trust each other now. Would you like me to change that back? I will destroy any trust the woman has in us if I do that!” Cassian lashed back in his anger.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE BLOODY WELL THOUGHT ABOUT THAT BEFORE YOU DID IT. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CONFESS. DACIA DAMN WELL DESERVES THE TRUTH, WHAT THE HELL MAN!” Jyn raised her voice in her temper; she couldn’t believe the man in front of her.

“OH NO, IF I’M GOING DOWN, I’M TAKING YOU WITH ME, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MORALITY ANYWAY?” Cassian matched her with a raised voice.

“I’VE BEEN AROUND THE BLOCK A BIT MORE THAN YOU SONNY BOY, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU, WHAT EVEN POSSESSED YOU TO THINK THAT THIS WAS A SMART MOVE?” Jyn screamed back at the man, her chest moving up and down as some of her frustration leaked through in her body language.

“EXCUSE ME?! YOU DIDN’T FIGHT IN THE RESISTANCE, YOU SPENT ALL THOSE YEARS RUNNING FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT YOUR PRECIOUS DADDY DID FOR THE G.E. WHEN YOU COULD HAVE BEEN FIGHTING TO CORRECT SOME OF THOSE WRONGS!!” Cassian roared, realising a second too late that he had made a mistake and said something horrible.

“Excuse me? Some people had to keep running just for their survival, call me selfish if you must, but I had to put my survival as a top priority. I was already left behind by Saw, and my parents, I didn’t have the time to put the comfort of everyone else at the top of my priority list.” Jyn snapped, her face turning pale as she heard what Cassian was roaring at her.

Taking one last searching look at the man, Jyn left the room hurriedly, she might not be sure of a lot, but she knew that she didn’t want someone to think that she could cry at the drop of a hat. Storming through the corridors of the spaceship, Jyn tried once again to gulp back her emotions; she wanted to be able to take a beat and breathe through the psychological pain by herself. It might not make a lot of sense to anyone else, but Jyn knew that she would feel better if she could just concentrate on herself without having any distractions there.

The last thing she needed when she felt like this was to be around anyone else attempting to rationalise her feelings. She was well aware that her feelings did not make a lot of sense, but if she could work through them at her speed, then that was better.

Scrubbing a hand over her face desperately as she wondered to herself whether or her eyes had begun leaking. Jyn could recognise that the turn of phrase might sound slightly strange, but she felt as if she didn’t want to say cry. She knew that if she were to start using terms like crying, then she would become a self-fulfilling prophecy, something that she didn’t want to become. Feeling a small measure of relief coursing through her system, when her hand came away dry. There would be time enough for her to cry later when she was alone and could hide.

Not wanting to clue Dacia in on what a horrified looking Cassian had said to her, Jyn shook her head and tried to push the thoughts to the side. Making her way through to the spaceship to the small library type nodule, where she knew she would be able to find the former Jedi Master. Humming under her breath to some of the ‘Moana’ soundtrack she had listened to the previous night, she had a particular affinity for the ‘How Far I’ll Go’ song.

WHOOSH

Trying to stifle a smirk when she came upon Dacia sitting at the desk, almost falling over an account of finding the Force and attaining inner balance in your life. Jyn wasn’t claiming that she was a stalker, but she had flicked through the book before when the group were still waiting between missions. She could remember, immediately when they had been saved, Jyn had felt cast adrift from her friends and unsure about what her next move should be. She could freely admit that it had helped that that she had her friends around her to rely upon, even if they recognised when she had simply wanted some space.

Briefly shaking her head as she idly wondered if she too was that predictable to her friends. Taking a brief step towards the woman, Jyn wondered if she should inform the woman some of what she had learned when she had been speaking with Cassian about. Casting the thought out of her mind, she opened her mouth ready to speak.

“Hey, Dacia, I was wondering if you had already emailed Ms Potts and Ms Hill, we need some further information about Designation: Scarlet Witch, so we know how best to secure her?” Jyn asked wanting to let the woman know some of what was going through her head.

“Not yet, the words that I want to put in the email aren’t coming to me. I keep starting to mentally compose it and then thinking of something else that I may have missed. Was there anything else that you wanted to say to me?” Dacia evenly asked, her eyebrow climbing up her face as she took in the side of a fidgeting Jyn.

“No, but, but I discussed something with Cassian, and I am not sure how to bring it up with you.” Jyn shakily spoke, wringing her hands together as she spoke.

“Is this about him limiting my access to the Force onboard this spaceship? He is not as sneaky as he thinks and while I wish that he didn’t feel the need to do what he did, I can understand. He didn’t have to give me his total trust when the two of you first got onto this ship, but I can well understand why he didn’t. My only regret is that he hasn’t told me about those actions.” Dacia sadly responded, weighing out her every word as she tried to pick what she should say next.

“Wait, you knew? But why didn’t you stop him, if he was doing something that you knew would cause YOU pain, then you could have stopped him. Why didn’t you stop him?” Jyn asked she was having difficulty believing what she was hearing.

“As I said, I felt it wasn’t my place to stop him, what could I do anyway? He isn’t as brilliant at what he is doing as he likes to pretend. I had to nudge some of his new protocols in the right direction. If such a small thing as my discomfort could bring him relief, then who am I to stop him? I couldn’t if I still wanted his trust, don’t forget all of the arguments that we had had at the same time, I had no desire to continue with the fight, I knew that I would have to make sacrifices if I wanted to gain his trust. No matter how painful it could be for me, but it was necessary.” Dacia sighed, her face growing more and more stressed as she thought about some of her potential actions.

“But wouldn’t that have been needlessly painful for you? I don’t understand why some people find betrayal as easy as breathing? It doesn’t make any sense for you to put yourself through the possibility of pain simply to gain something as simple as his trust, there were other ways to gain that. You had just saved our lives; you did not have to gain his trust!” Jyn cried, throwing her arms in the air.

“True enough, I had just saved your lives, but I had taken you out of a Universe where you understood the rules to a new one. Not that I understood the rules when we first landed here. I knew that it would take a while for you to trust but I didn’t want to force his hand. That wouldn’t be a good way for me to ensure that he could trust me. If my discomfort was more important when I wanted to gain allies and friends, then so be it.” Dacia hummed looking at peace with what she was saying before continuing “I don’t necessarily think that he betrayed me, so much as didn’t trust me and I can’t blame him for that, not really anyway.”

“It doesn’t make any sense to me; I wish that some things could be as simple as they were when we were children. Is that too much to ask?” Jyn wailed plaintively.

“Some people are not lucky enough to get a childhood. I was taken as a youngling to become a padawan. Make no mistake, but I am not excusing what he did, but to an extent, I can understand it. I know that if I were to be ripped away from everyone I loved if I understood that otherwise messy emotion, I would be afraid and confused as well. It might not make a lot of sense but Cassian similarily didn’t have a childhood, from a young age he was pressed into service for the Resistance, you can’t judge him for that, no matter how easy it would be.” Dacia sadly told the woman, still not entirely sure if she adequately justify Cassian’s rampant paranoia.

“Okay, but if the discomfort if the pain feels like it is getting too much, then you have to let me know, I don’t want you to go for long in pain. I can only treat you if you tell me what is happening. Does it not bother you that the guy finds it so easy to betray you like it was nothing and not even tell you about what he did?” Jyn pleaded, trying to make some sense out of what her friend was saying.

“Listen Jyn; you can’t hold this against him for me. I don’t blame him for it, nor should you.” Dacia laughed at her friend, as she clambered to her feet.

Darcy looked over at Jyn and bit her lip as she saw that her friend looked like she was struggling with some of what she was telling her friend. Darcy stepped over towards her friend her arms held open as her friend walked into her arms. Darcy held the woman in her arms and rocked the woman side to side as she tried to be there for the woman. Humming gently into the woman’s hair, Darcy waited until the woman had nodded tremulously against her until she could let the woman go.

“Now then, what else do I need to be aware of? Not that what you told me about Cassian isn’t important, but I don’t feel like it’s as important as some of the things that we have to deal with?” Darcy gently asked the woman, before taking a step back.

“No, I just, along with Cassian, need a full list of potential abilities, so we know how to cover them potentially. I wouldn’t trust anything that the RAFT had on their abilities; I wouldn’t be sure if Stark shared what he knew of their abilities, they were taken too quickly. Can you make sure that you ask them for that information?” Jyn asked, shaking her head to clear the thoughts from her mind.

“Certainly, it might take me a while to get a response from them. I can’t say I’m filled with confidence at any intel they could provide us, but I don’t see the harm in asking because even if we can’t be sure about what kind of intel we get, I don’t see the harm in asking.” Dacia nodded at the woman clambering to her feet.

Directing a last look at Jyn, she exited the room feeling suddenly unsure about what was to do. She knew that if she claimed to be a rational adult (which she did), she should go and talk to Cassian, simply because she knew how worried Jyn had been, but she was able to put it out for her mind for now. She had spent enough time procrastinating and would now have to go and do precisely what she had been putting off. In thinking this, Dacia wondered idly to herself when her life had become so complicated that she longed for the days when she hide behind the guise of Darcy Lewis, a nom de guerre she had used when they had first crash landed in this part of the Universe.

Still, no point wasting time when she could be doing some work and making herself useful.

WHOOSH

Finally, reaching the small control nodule where she knew that she would be able to write the email. Glancing around the room briefly, she smiled a little to herself, at least nobody would be around to watch her work. She hated when it came to instances where she had to put all that she had learned when she had been Darcy through university, strange how those lessons could be helpful. She had realised early on that there were some things that she found similar to her Jedi Training, even if some of the concepts and players were as of yet unfamiliar to her. Still, Dacia tended to remind herself that if she could familiarise herself with a few of these names, then it might be a good thing.

Taking a seat at one of the computers left in front of her, Dacia sat down and started to fidget around a little bit with her fingers; she was well aware that now was not the time for her to become too introspective. Opening up the email program on her computer, Dacia thought once again about some of the things that she wanted to say. Shaking her head to clear it like an errant fly, Dacia cracked her neck and leaned forward to type.

 

TO: Ms Potts & Ms Hill, The, Vision  
FROM: Darcy Lewis   
C/O: Erso, J., Andor, C.

I am sorry that it took me some time to be able to email you guys, but we have done it. Working off some of the previous GPRS data that Dr Stark’s helicopter had last been recorded landing at. It took us some time to plan an op, but we were able to storm the place and take possession of the Rogue Avengers. We got them out just in time; it seems as if Designation: (Former) Captain America and Designation: Winter Solider had the same idea and were also working to liberate all of them.

As a happy coincidence, we have not got all of them locked up on the spaceship and need some further advice about what you would like us to do with them now. We are completely happy to hold onto them for a time more; there are indeed still some instances where we want to get to the bottom of why they got themselves involved in this mess. Or what this whole thing was supposed to mean.

The conditions that they were being held in at the RAFT Prison makes us hesitant to trust and form of security system that those in Power on this planet currently possess. For the moment though, we can only trust our security until there is some form of prison that we can be confident they can be held in.

The legal parameters around their short stay at the RAFT Prison has also given us reason to doubt whether or not their rights were being completely followed. Aren’t your people so fond of claiming things like ‘innocent until proven guilty’?

We doubt that they were even read their rights, never mind had them followed.

For now, though we will hold them you will need to give us a full list of their abilities. In particular, we need to update the security onboard our spaceship; we need to know the abilities of Designation: Scarlet Witch, in particular, we don’t need to start worrying about the woman is capable of while we are flying with them. Do you have any actionable intel we can use to safeguard ourselves against the threat that is the woman?

If there is anything you can tell us, we would be very much obliged and could start to update the security.

We also need to know if there are any allergies or anything we need to be aware off, we want to know if there is anything we need to be aware of before we accidentally poison them. Or strangle them by accident.

Or in any other way accidentally kill them? We do not need for questions to be raised regarding our presence in this Universe.

We are going to start interviewing them soon, are there any questions you would like us to ask. If there, please reply to this email ASAP with any questions, and we can ask them when it comes time to do them.

Has Dr Stark woken up yet, I know you may not trust me when I say this, but one of the people onboard this spaceship has a background in medical treatments. If you would like to pass me on his file, I can have Jyn take a look at the notes.

Signed, Lewis D. otherwise known as Dacia

Darcy leaned back from the computer and cast her eyes over the email; she didn’t want to get to the point where she instantly regretted what she had said. When she was happy that the spelling, punctuation and grammar of the email were all as they should be, she hit SEND. It was time for her to get some answers.

Stretching her limbs out as she stood up, Dacia idly wondered to herself what she should do with the rest of her time. Wincing a little as she heard the small popping noise of her back, she released that she should probably begin stretching out her back again. Even though her old friend Mace Windu had been rumoured dead for years, some of his old advice still rang through her mind; that she should always try to maintain some form of balance within herself. She might not have seen Yoda in a long time, there were also rumours that the small green alien was dead, but he always liked to extol on the virtues of her properly stretching. Maybe she could talk to Jyn and Cassian about her setting aside some time in the gym each day to do a little yoga?

Dacia felt almost better when she realised that now it seemed as she if she had a further plan of action. Taking note of her tranquil mood, she decided that now would be the best time for her to talk to Cassian, it wouldn’t serve anyone well if she were to suddenly lose her temper with the man.

Making her way through the ship to Cassian in the small engineering room, she knew that she would be able to find the man in there, or at least she knew that when he had been talking to Jyn. Not particularly wanting to have this conversation, but knowing that she would have to, she sighed not sure she would like the outcome of the conversation.

WHOOSH

Clint shook his head once again, wondering what the strange feeling in his head was. The only thing he could say that it felt similar to was when your ears readjusted after being at a high altitude. Or even at the lower depths of the ocean.

SHIELD missions were weird; he thought as he shook his head.

Taking a moment to shake his head, trying to clear it of the errant thoughts, something that Nat would have harshly (it was how the woman showed she cared) would have told him was a dangerous thing for the old beat-up sniper to do. He had decided that soon after Loki he didn’t want to think about his next move. He just wanted to be told where to aim and where to shoot again. The last time he had made decisions for himself, he had wound up not shooting the Black Widow, even if that action had led him to grew into one of the strongest friendships, even if he occasionally got exasperated by the woman.

Unfortunately, though he couldn’t claim that he didn’t understand the sentiment, he hadn’t been trusted by SHIELD afterwards. He was the one who had led an assault force against the Helicarrier, and cost many their lives after all. Sure, it had made things difficult for him, but he honestly wasn’t sure if he would have reacted any differently if the shoe had been on the other foot. Shaking his head once to clear his head of the introspective thoughts. It hadn’t been helpful to him to fixate on things that weren’t instantly helpful to him.

Looking down at his hands again, Clint wondered not for the first time, why he had fixated for so long, on the last act of Pietro Maximoff had been to save him and that little boy. He could never understand why he had carried around so much guilt. He could maybe rationalise that he hadn’t been able to understand what had possessed the man to give his life in favour of protecting Clint.

Trying to cast his memory back to when the Maximoff twins had first come across the Avengers notice, which was back in Sokovia, back when they had liberated the sceptre. All of their problems started back when they had brought back that thrice-accursed sceptre. Clint would sometimes wonder if it was possible that Wanda had gotten to Stark and hadn’t told anyone. But he realised that if Stark had been hit, then he wouldn’t have done them a favour and shut up.

Clint was well aware that some of his instinctive training as a sniper meant that he could put away some of the deaths. Because what else could a sniper or assassin do? It would do him a disservice if (in his head anyway) he carried around every life he had ever taken. He would have been pretty bad at his job if he hadn’t been able to move past it and had remained haunted by the job he undertook.

So, why did he remain so fixated on the death of that one man? It wasn’t as if the two were friends, they hadn’t even shared much interaction beyond him and his sister fucking them up.

It seemed as if Clint was beginning to conclude that things were not as they seemed and he had to wonder what else he might have missed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nom de guerre - An assumed name under which a person engages in combat, paints, writes etc. For example, Charlotte Brontë’s novels were initially published under a pen name
> 
> G.E - This is essentially what the Galactic Empire was shortened to.
> 
> Leave a review and I'm going to start knitting a hat. Not that the two are linked, I just feel like trying to knit again y'know?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! Early update. Bit of a filler chapter and Steve is stubborn

Dacia hummed to herself as she made her way through the spaceship. It was time for her to try and get to the bottom of things with Cassian. Or at least Jyn probably thought it was. Dacia was willing to simply let sleeping dogs lie and not make a big fuss over something that she thought was simple.

Jyn, however, hadn’t been able to understand why the woman hadn’t been angrier and had pretty much bullied Dacia into taking these steps. Dacia couldn’t understand why Jyn felt so strongly, when she wouldn’t even have been affected by these changes, to the spaceship.

It would probably seem rational (and even sweet) if Dacia were to remember that the two women were friends and that Dacia had (partially) opened up about some of the difficulties in her health. There was also the small matter of Jyn still struggling to overcome some of the issues she still faced with regards to her strange upbringing.

Darcy noticed that it sometimes took Jyn longer to trust others (which Darcy couldn’t fault, especially when she considered what she knew about her friend) and she couldn’t understand why anyone would try to undermine said trust. Darcy realised that she had to get this part smoothed out before it became an even bigger situation that she needed it to be.

Taking some time to mentally compose herself, sucking in great lungfuls of air, once and twice before she nodded to herself. It was time to talk to Cassian and see if they could come to some form of understanding.

WHOOSH

Letting her chest fall as she let the oxygen escape her body, Dacia looked around the small room, trying to put off the moment she would have to talk to Cassian. Some of her old (arrogant, xenophobic) friends with, the Jedi ranks would have no doubt sneered at Dacia and her insistence on getting on with those she surrounded herself with, even if they weren’t practitioners of the Jedi religion and creed. Dacia had made a conscious decision to surround herself with those she trusted would question her if she made any questionable decisions. With those thoughts in mind, she glanced over at her friend and felt like she had to hide a small smirk when she noted the man was playing with a scrap bit of metal, no doubt trying to avoid looking at Dacia. He undoubtedly knew what this matter was about, and wanted to try and pull out the confrontation as long as he could. Dacia was very much of the same mind – except she wanted to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

With that in mind she opened her mouth and began to speak;

“Look, Cassian I think we both know that each of us is trying to avoid having this discussion for our reasons. But Jyn at least, is expecting us to have this discussion, and don’t you think we at least owe it to her, to discuss this like the mature adults we claim to be?” Dacia sighed, trying not to laugh when she saw the surprised look on Cassian’s face.

“Yeah, you are probably right, but you do know that I am not going to apologise for my actions, right? I did those things because I wanted to be able to find if I could trust you, and I won’t say that I regret them!” Cassian declared.

“I know, I’m not asking you to, nor will I embarrass both of us, by pretending that I didn’t know how or when you put that security update in place because I knew. What I want to do is clear the air and try to get to the bottom of this with you. Do you trust me now?” Dacia gently asked the man, peering at the man in front of her.

“Wait, but how did you know that I put those updates in place, you aren’t the best with technology!” Cassian tried to protest before he continued “I trust you more now, but when we first met, I wasn’t willing to lay all my trust in some woman I had never met before. Now, with Designation: Scarlet Witch in those cells, I won’t regret those actions, you can’t make me!”

“You forget that this is my spaceship, I know everything that goes on this spaceship, minus a few things that I don’t want to know about of course! What I was wondering, was how exactly you wrote that security protocol, because it really shouldn’t haven’t gotten through. What I would like to know, is it is even possible for us to alter that small security measure. We don’t want the woman to be able to get one over us and make life even slightly inordinately difficult for us.” Dacia looked at the man, as she spoke softly.

“Why didn’t you tell me before that you knew what I was up too?” Cassian tried to protest.

“I didn’t want to spook you, not while I was waiting to gain your trust. Besides what would you have done if I had confronted you back when you first put it up?” Dacia softly asked the man.

“I won’t say that I liked it because I wouldn’t have. I would have seen it as you trying to poke your nose into our life again. But it doesn’t seem to have affected you at all, so why are you making such a big deal about it?” Cassian sulkily asked.

Dacia was sure that the man was glaring at her from behind his thick curtain of hair.

“Yes, it has been affecting me. You see, after the G.E. rose to prominence, it was agony for me, not being able to trust myself and connect with the Force. Even though I could feel and hear it singing through the air surrounding me and within me, it was and has been a part of me for so long. Could you even imagine what it feels like to cut yourself off from a piece of yourself? I couldn’t be sure whether or not Darth Vader had been able to fashion some device to help him find and trap any of us who were able to connect to the Force. If I hadn’t already had that practice in avoiding the Force for so long, out of fear, one of the things I feared the most was the uncertainty that my discovery could bring. What you had done would have placed into an excruciating agony, the likes of which you might not be able to imagine. It seems as if some of the things we can be sure about in this universe is that access to the Force is limited. Some of my observations of Designation: Scarlet Witch has allowed me to conclude that the woman may be using some form of the Force in both her offensive and defensive actions. Can you check the logs to find out if she has been able to connect, I want to start getting the interview questions ready.” Dacia responded to the man, watching as the man’s face paled as Dacia’s words began to sink in.

“Are you sure that you want me to take those steps because we might not like what we find? Would you like me to be able to dial it back, so you still have some form of access that we can control?” Cassian asked, suddenly worried about the woman in front of him.

“Right now, we need to know; it’s better to be prepared and guess what we can expect, rather than going into this problem with our eyes shut. We need to know Cassian, whether or not we should fear for our lives and what steps we can take to combat that fear. Do you understand?” Dacia asked considering the man in front of her.

“I understand, we need to prepare for anything those people can throw at us. I know that you’ve said, but I want to be sure before I do it, another shouting match between myself and Jyn does not sound particularly appealing. But you have emailed Hill and Potts about the suspected length that Designation: Scarlet Witch’s powers can go to, right? At the same time though, do we need to be concerned about the rest of them?” Cassian asked, frowning as he thought through some of the problems that immediately faced them.

“For now, I see Designation: Scarlet Witch as being the biggest threat to the safety of us on this ship. For all their supposed strengths, Designation (Former): Captain America and Designation: Winter Soldier are essentially soldiers that have taken too much by way of anabolic steroids. Designation: Winter Soldier is down an arm for pities sake! It doesn’t seem like he would find it particularly easy to easy to escape. Another point to bear in mind is that Designation (Former): Captain America won’t try to do anything that might harm his friend.” Cassian started before continuing; “Designation: Falcon seems as if he believes anything that Designation (Former): Captain America tells him, I’m hesitant to believe that he has it in him to think critically about what the other man tells him. It’s curious because I am wondering if he simply bought into the propaganda and hype of the man too much and is that possibly clouding his rationale. Designation: Ant-Man seems like he has gotten into something too big for him to understand all the players in the game, beyond second or third-hand impressions. It will be interesting to watch and see how long it takes for him to come to the conclusion that he has stepped into something that he doesn’t understand.”

“Yeah, but it’s Designation: Hawkeye that fascinates me now. I’ve been glancing over some of the footage we have of the prisoners in the cells. He didn’t say a lot, but he has been clutching his head, I have a feeling that he has possibly begun to question the position that he has found himself in, by which I mean in trouble. Designation: Scarlet Witch, we need to be careful about her abilities, but somehow I can’t see her as regretting her actions, not yet anyway.” Dacia mused as she thought aloud. 

“Okay, so far, I’ve been attempting to design some form of the system we can use in holding the two Super Soldiers. I would caution you not to forget the guys; they might not be a big threat as it stands. But we don’t want to have found them to be causing us trouble if we aren’t ready for it.” Cassian cautioned the woman before turning back to some of his work.

Dacia nodded once and looked around the room; she wasn’t sure if she was actively looking for some. Or, more likely, was attempting to martial her thoughts into some form of order before she left to continue her work.

WHOOSH

Leaving the room behind, Darcy started to hum to herself as she looked around the silver corridors, trying to decide where she should go to next. Groaning to herself beneath her breathe, about the expectations that having friends could heap upon her, Dacia, shrugged and rolled her shoulders and neck out, before allowing her footsteps to lead her towards the gym. She felt as if she had spent too long fearing the reactions of her past friends, teachers and masters within the Jedi code, to start to alter her actions now. She felt it made her a stronger user (and conduit) of the Force if she were allowed to build up relationships with those she held near and dear to her heart.

For now, it was better is those relationships remained platonic, in any case, Dacia didn’t feel as if she was ready for even the possibility of a romantic relationship. One of the things she had learned in her Darcy Lewis Grand University adventure, was that the idea of sex didn’t appeal to her – maybe ever – and that was completely okay with her. Cassian had remarked that it took all different strokes for all different folks, though it could be a struggle to make sense of the man when he was three sheets to the wind!

Shaking her head once again as she tried to clear the thoughts from her head, she altered her path to the gym. She realised that Jyn now would probably feel as if she had some things to work out, and if Dacia knew the woman, it was that she would prefer to work out those buzzing thoughts at the punching bag. Otherwise, she ran the risk of the thoughts becoming too loud for her to deal with, it was easier for her to work out her stress in a physical manner than it was for her to run it through her head. It would seem that some of Saw Guerra’s lesson was difficult for her to shake off, Dacia supposed it made sense, Guerra had been responsible for a young Jyn’s early upbringing.

Momentarily glancing down at her body, Dacia realised that she was still wearing her robes, not something that would be conducive to a good workout. Even if Dacia was willing to bet that she would be able to work out no matter the outfit, certainly with all the time the Jedi Council had invested in Dacia, it was almost preferable to her, but to each their own. Jyn (and Cassian) would occasionally struggle sparring with a woman in a robe; it was no doubt some last instinctive holdover of respect for the Jedi of old. So, frowning to herself as she made her way back to her bedroom, she darted inside to pull on a pair of leather type leggings with a loose cotton shirt. She wasn’t quite sure what mood she would find Jyn in after all.

Padding along the corridors in bare feet, Dacia absently began to stretch out her arms over her head. Along with swinging the limbs from side to side as she worked to get a full range of motion in her body. Satisfied that she was as stretched out that she was going to be, Dacia hopped from one foot to the other and leaned forward to swipe her access pass through the device at the side of the door; she entered in through the double glass door.

WHOOSH

Looking around the small gym for her friend, Dacia wasn’t sure how to feel when she spotted the woman giving the punching bag a good go over, was it a good thing that she knew the woman well enough to know where she could find her. Sighing as she made her way over to the punching bag, Jyn was currently hammering as if it had personally done her wrong. Stepping behind the bag and clutching it to her chest, she smiled tentatively at the woman. Wincing as she felt the bag pummelled into her, she waited patiently for the woman to recognise her before she began to speak. The choice, however, was taken from her when Jyn began to speak in a hollow tone of voice.

“I’m guessing that you are to tell me to stop thinking this way about that man’s actions? To tell me to buck up and get on with it? Because, you know that I can’t do that, for pities sake he was causing you pain and discomfort simply because at one stage he didn’t trust you!”

“No, it’s not my place to tell you to do something that makes you uncomfortable. Don’t make me become that person Jyn; I promise you won’t like that person!” Dacia warned the woman, wincing once again when Jyn launched her foot into the bag.

“What are you talking about woman!? Has he at least apologised to you for any of his actions? He was wrong to do what he did, and I don’t get why you are so insistent on forgiving him straight away! What purpose does that serve!” Jyn cried, hitting the bag with her fists as she allowed her anger to run free and dictate her actions.

“Jyn. You can’t say that you didn’t trust me completely back when we first met either! I don’t want to draw out something that I feel has already been litigated, don’t make me. The day that I start doing things just because someone else wants me to, regardless of whether or not I want to, will be a cold day on Mustafar. So, why don’t we talk it out, why do you feel like the man has done something horrendous to you?” Dacia gently asked, not wanting to frighten her friend.

Jyn eased off the punching bag, and placed her hands on her hips, before fixing Dacia with a hard stare. She stood there for enough time for Dacia to start fidgetting before she spoke.

“See it from my perspective, he knows now that he can trust you, that we can trust you, why does he still have that piece of software running? Does he still feel as if he is going to have to run because he knows that is ridiculous right? I swore to myself that no man was going to be able to make my decisions for me any longer! I refuse to give him any power to do that, to give anyone the power to make my choices for me anymore.” Jyn cried, her voice going slightly high-pitched in her ire.

“What if you need urgent medical decisions made? Are we not allowed to make those decisions for you, if it seems as if you could die if we don’t make a choice!” Dacia teased, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re funny; I forgot to laugh.” Jyn deadpanned, wearing a bored expression on her face.

“Seriously though, will you be okay? I don’t want to trample over anyone's feelings, and I am still struggling slightly to understand just where you are coming from. You know that this won’t affect you, right? You aren’t able to connect to the Force; you may be capable of feeling it from time to time. So why is this bothering you so much?” Dacia asked the woman, still trying her hardest to understand why Jyn had gotten such a bee in her bonnet over the whole state of affairs.

“I have never been such a dense genius” Jyn muttered before continuing in a clearer voice “it affects me, dumbass because you are my friend. If you get into pain and don’t tell me, then how am I supposed to help you? How do you think that would make you feel, if I died one day because of something that you can have helped me with, but I didn’t tell you!” 

“Fair enough, but I promise you that I have it under control. If it had gotten to be too much for me, then, of course, I would have told you, there is no question about that. I just didn’t see the point in bothering you with something that I could handle myself.” Dacia tried once again to clear her name.

It wasn’t working, because when she chanced a look up, she could see Jyn still peering at her with a solitary eyebrow raised, as she tapped her foot up and down impatiently on the squeak clean gym floor. Unsure of what to do, because she honestly hadn’t thought that she would ever get into this situation with Jyn, Cassian sure, but she had thought that she at least had a bit of tact. Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, as she tried to read Jyn’s body language, she wondered to herself how Jyn would see it if she tried to hug her.

Probably not very well, judging by the irritated look on her friend’s face.

Dacia wondered to herself what Yoda’s reaction would have been if he had ever realised just how wrong he was. Dacia was always fond of pointing out the strangeness of the Jedi council and realised that she would no doubt see it as brilliance if she could point out yet more fallacies in some of the older teachings. 

She would have dearly loved to have the opportunity to rub it in Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan and the rest of the old farts who made up the Jedi Council, how silly their teachings could be. Shaking away the thought that it was possible they could have avoided the whole mess with Anakin if they hadn’t been so quick to pull him to the thinking that there was something wrong with him having feelings! It would do her no good to think of all the heartbreak and tragedy that could have been avoided had the Jedi Masters updated their teachings. If she could travel back in time, she would dearly like to shake Qui-Jon Ginn for not realising how mind-boggling tricky prophecies could be if they were translated. It was too much of a weight to put on a child to expect them to sort out the adult's mess, a mess that they had created and now realised that they couldn’t solve.

Some of the fiction books that she loved to read (the Harry Potter books sprung to mind) had the common trope of how dangerous prophecies could become if nobody sat down to think through their actions. Dacia wanted nothing more than to wash her hands of all wishy-washy statements.

It would probably do the world a lot of good.

Looking over at the woman facing her, Dacia cautiously held her arms open; she wasn’t sure what expectations she should hold. Jyn peered at the woman with her head cocked to the side, stifling a smirk when she noted that Dacia barely hid a shudder.

She had gotten to her friend. Jyn had realised that she should take her delight where she could get it. If anyone had told her that she would be able to use the hard-fought (and won) lessons from Saw Guerra to freak out her friends, she was well aware that she would probably have thought they were playing a mean trick on her!

Still, it amused her to no end.

“Okay, well now I am going to have to see if I can work out how we can look at how the medical aspect should begin to work. I don’t want to begin taking liberties with their various medical conditions, but it is important that I know what to keep my eye on. I’m about to say something remarkably cliché but bear with me! We need to know what we should keep an eye on for the future.” Jyn panted, taking sympathy on her friend.

“Yeah, that sounds fair, we need to establish a baseline not just regarding any psychical health. But we also need to know how if there are any behavioural or psychological problems we should keep an eye on. Are you okay with handling that?” Dacia asked, still not completely sure what she should be doing.

“No, for now, all I have to do, is keep an eye on them on the VT and go through some of the files that we were able to lift when we initially lifted them. For now, I just have to go through some computer files. We are probably going to work out what questions we want to ask in an interview. When will the interviews be by the way?” Jyn told the woman, running a hand through her greasy hair.

“We should probably shoot for holding the interviews, as soon as I get an email back from both Hill and Potts, they might have some idea about what questions they want to be asked. We need to be sure that we are asking the right questions. We might not get another shot if we don’t ask the right questions. Sometimes I honestly think that we should begin thinking like journalists some days! At least if we want to be confident that we are doing a good job that is.” Dacia sighed looking at her hands.

“Why do you seem to enjoy talking in such meaningless platitudes? That irritates me so much when you do that!” Jyn tried to laugh as she shook her head at the woman.

Peering at her for a second longer, unsure of what was running through her head, Jyn shook her head again. Leaving the room behind her, Jyn was still attempting to hold in her belly laughs for another time when she didn’t feel the cruel stresses that this life had left her with. Throwing her arms up as she exited the room, ugh but she smelled particularly pungent. Deciding that she should take a quick shower before she settled down to do her work.

WHOOSH

After a suitably long soak in the shower, Jyn finally felt clean again, or at least clean enough to get out and continue with her day. Humming to herself as she made her way through the deceptively large spaceship back to the small nodule she found herself in so often when she felt she had to go through her notes again. Deciding that before she settled down to continue with her work that she rather fancied a steaming hot mug of Earl Grey tea, Jyn made her way through the spaceship with the mug clutched in her hands, as she thought of some of the work that she would have to do. Slipping into the small nodule, she breathed a sigh of relief when she was greeted with the familiar sights of the nodule. In here everything felt like it made sense to her again.

Logging into the computer, via the thumbprint, Jyn began to sort through some of the files in front of her. Taking another long slurp of tea, she frowned when she realised that the information she had taken from the RAFT prison wasn’t entirely accurate, nor she thought reliable. She could recognise that it seemed as if the files were compiled by a xenophobic person, not by anyone who had any compassion to call upon. This made sense because it didn’t seem to her that it would be the logical career path for a bureaucrat overflowing with compassion to work with the General. She wasn’t even sure if the General had relied on blackmail to make people work with him.

People who didn’t already share his antiquated and horrendous thought process.

Making a small note to herself on a piece of notepaper, she wanted to look into the backgrounds of any working with the man. Maybe she was simply barking up the wrong tree, but to her, she felt like the idea could bear her some unexpected fruit. Cassian would probably tease her about allowing her sense of morality to dictate how she viewed other people’s actions.

Shaking the thought from her mind, it might be interesting but it wasn’t everything to her right now, she would have to ensure that she continued to look at the forest and not continue to be mesmerised by the trees in front of her face! Diverting her attention to pulling up the tapes from the cells, they constantly recorded and alerted the others on the spaceship, if anything untoward was being said. Jyn had had enough experience of being taken by surprise; she didn’t want it to happen again. It was a handy program for the group because they had quickly realised that it didn’t matter if someone constantly watched the tapes, things were likely to fall between the cracks.

She understood the program as being linked to the K-2SO AI, this way he could devote a small amount of his background computing power to idly listening (and recording) what the prisoners were saying to one another. If the AI found something that concerned him, he could pull in the BODHI AI and then if it were something that both of them found concerning, they would alert Cassian, Dacia and herself. 

It had been coded this way because the K-2SO AI had an overprotective streak a few hundred klicks wide over Cassian’s safety. In the beginning, they were being alerted to every little thing that was said. Thinking back on that time with a smirk, Jyn thought that ever Dacia’s legendary patience was beginning to become frayed.

Jyn preferred to dip in and out of the listening from, she carried around a paranoia that it wouldn’t be long until the prisoners started to speak in code to one another. It also helped that this way she would get a small modicum of entertainment while she listened to frankly confusing antics.

What she wasn’t getting any soap operas and if this was how she was to keep up her morale then so be it!

Stretching her limbs out over her head as she realised that she had been sitting in the same position for a long time, the worse thing was that she hadn’t even finished. She would have to continue with this work at another time. It was time to take a short break; it would be curious to note whether or not she was possibly able to see other patterns if she came back with fresh eyes at another date. No point in her beginning to cry over spilt milk, not while she could still find something potentially useful to them.

Rubbing at the furrow between her brows, Jyn flicked through the VT feed, frowning when she could not easily access some of the recordings of the previous day. She made a note on her every handy tablet to mention it to Cassian. It was possible that she was simply going about trying to access the files in the wrong way, but could you blame her for wanting to be sure that it was simply an error on her part that was restricting her. Jyn didn’t think that it bore any mention of why she didn’t want it to be anything more serious.

Taking a deep breath as she leant over the computer screen, Jyn continued to go through the notes, before leaning back with a loud sigh, she couldn’t do anything further before she received an email with the notes from the Avengers et al. that they had left behind. It wouldn’t be easy for her to spot something, especially if she didn’t know exactly what she was supposed to be on the lookout for.

Deciding that right now, she would like to be able to read some of the behind the scenes emails from within the US State Department, but she felt like right now, she honestly couldn’t be bothered to expound the energy required for her to hack in. Still, it would be interesting to hear what was happening behind the scenes. Some of the files she had been able to lift from the RAFT hinted at a sort of faction developing within the Department. Another thing that had piqued her interest she hadn’t been able to find a great many files. It could hint that this was finally a small amount of evidence that the rest of the State Department didn’t know what the Secretary was up too.

Jyn didn’t think that this signalled good intentions on the part of General Ross, but for now, she would have to let it go simply. There wasn’t enough time for her to worry about everything that was happening, not when it was likely to affect her or her group, no matter how interesting it could become to her. If she were going to get involved, then she would have to receive an email, even if it seemed unlikely that she should get one.

Glancing at the small tablet computer, when it beeped to let her know that Dacia wanted to let her know that she had received an email from the Avengers, made her frown briefly before sighing. It seemed like now at least she would get some instructions on how she should handle the prisoners. Flicking the computer off, Jyn climbed to her feet and began clambering to her feet. She would have to make her way through to the computer room, to see what they had learned.

WHOOSH

In the cells, the prisoners were looking at one another as they tried to work out what had happened to them. Steve for one was looking around him, as he tried to work out what exactly was happening. He couldn’t see that he had done anything wrong, he had never stopped to answer to bullies, and he wasn’t about to start. It must be so easy for guys like Stark who didn’t recognise that not everybody could spend all their days screwing around. He had seen some of the videos of Stark, and he couldn’t believe that he had ever been on the same team as THAT man.

He had had to take a stand over how the much say the United Nations had over how they ran. It was a shame that Stark had taken that opportunity to stick his nose into something that didn’t concern him. He had stepped back from the Avengers after all, what they did, really didn’t have to affect him.

Steve thought that the guy had only gotten involved because he was bored, the last time THAT had happened, they had to face off against ULTRON, not the most pleasant of situations. Stark really shouldn’t have gotten involved, what did any of this have to do with him any longer?

He did wonder why he had seen any sign of the people who had kidnapped them; Steve briefly thought to himself that they were nothing more than bullies. What had they done to any of them that had inspired them to kidnap them from wherever they had been held before. Oh well, Steve was able to rationalise that at least now he would get a short break from leading the group.

He would be back in power, in no time. He had to be because he considered that nobody else would realise how tiring it was for him always to be the one that everybody else looked up to.

Not even Stark ever made that important distinction.

Steve would be back in no time.

Nobody could do what he did after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discussions of some of the matters on the ship, James really begins to wonder who he has tied his fate too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a line in this that I was 100% sure would come off as Racist, because I don't want it to become Racist. I want to apologise to anyone I may offend by accident when they read this chapter, just know that it wasn't my intention and I couldn't work out a good way to substitute this line. If you are offended by it, please let me know in the comments, if you have any ideas of how I could change the line please let me know.

Cassian grumbled to himself as he sat in the small engineering room on the spaceship.  His mind kept whirling with some of the things that Jyn had said to him, and then later that Dacia had said to him.  Lightly touching the hollow at his throat, he wondered to himself what K-2SO would have said to him.  He appreciated that Dacia had made an AI of his former robot, but he didn’t hear (or see) the voice as being the same as his former robotic helper.  He knew that he and K-2SO had a bit of a strange relationship, but the android helped reign him when he needed it.  So many times when he had made impulse decisions that wouldn’t work and would only serve to get him into trouble K has pulled him back from the brink

 

Stopping himself from running a hand through his hair, as he scowled down at the hand slick with engine grease, he closed his eyes.  Running through some of the numbers in his head, as his mind wrestled with some of what he was supposed to be doing, he heard a small beeping noise.  Frowning when he realised that he had received a message, at least on the internal messaging system, he had already connected with the trio’s tablets.  Looking down at the small bit of metal he was working with, he frowned and muttered to himself about simply wasting time.  He realised that not everybody was fortunate enough to get the time to work on simple projects that did nothing more than appeal to their interest.  Once he had set the small bit of metal aside, Cassian lifted up the tablet and flicked it on, not even bothering to wait long; he read with a frown that they had received an email response to the email that Dacia had earlier ensured that she had sent.

 

Frowning as his eyes scanned the information in front of him.  Or at least space where there should be more information.  It seemed as if Dacia had gotten excited by whatever it was she had found because the small email was woefully lacking on any solid information.  Just that he would need to move his ass up to the central control nodule, as fast as he could.  Pulling himself upright, as he made his way from the room, he wondered if that was a common condition among the Jedi Masters of old, or maybe that was just a Dacia thing?  To suddenly jump from topic to topic wasn’t a complete surprise for the woman.  Swiftly exiting the room, making sure that he had the tablet still well in hand, he briefly paused to look around the corridors, he quickly set off at a hurried pace.  Making his way through the corridors, he began to wonder what exactly Dacia had found because she sounded unusually harried in the small memo/email that she had sent out.  It was unlike the Jedi of Old to move hurriedly, so whatever it was, had to important and unexpected.  Though Dacia had a habit sometimes of getting so over-excited that she forgot to pace herself and moved at a constantly exhausting stream of consciousness.  Usually, Cassian’s ability to parse through the woman’s words could come in handy, other days Cassian struggled with what the woman was saying to him.

 

Slowing down before he made his way into the central nodule, the last thing he wanted was to make either Jyn or Dacia think that he was doing nothing more than wasting his time!  With that in mind, he entered the nodule at a leisurely pace.  Making sure that he had a calm look on his face before he did so.

 

“I haven’t looked at my email yet, but was there something that we need to be kept aware of?” Jyn asked looking worried.

 

Cassian couldn’t hide his eye roll when he noted the woman had come in a hurry.  He wondered if his formerly criminal friend had never realised the benefits of hiding a hurry.  It would help her tremendously if she learned the benefits of keeping up appearances.  Even if Jyn had read through the email, she wouldn’t have found anything out.  It was more important to the man that he was able to project a superiority complex.  Kept the woman on her toes, even if would sometimes amuse Dacia.  It was likely that the small group would lapse into depression if they didn’t take the time to find something a little lighter to look at.  Taking a moment to shake his head, he flicked a glance over at Dacia, wondering where the woman was going to take the meeting.

 

“Ms Hill has responded to the email; she has sent over a warning of what we can we can expect from the people we are currently holding in our cells.  She has said that it would be difficult for us to expect anything from Designation: Scarlet Witch, she has chosen not to respond to anything that may be connected to Dr Stark.  But we were expecting that response.  I’ll reckon that when we interview her, we might not find anything she says to be particularly helpful.” Dacia answered the woman, holding her fingers up to her lips.

 

“Was there anything about the other ‘Rogue Avengers’ in the cells?  We can’t work together if we haven’t been given all of the information, after all?” Cassian asked, his voice betraying his unease.

 

“Yes, she managed to pull a few files from SHIELD, and her files, don’t ask me when she would have personal files, but I guess that some practices die harder than others.  She was able to tell us that Designation (Former): Captain America, that while he may look like the human pinnacle of perfection, he still has some weak spots.  The only thing is that he can’t see these weak spots, whether or not it’s through ignorance or sheer bloody arrogance that has blinded the man to his faults.  There aren’t a lot of notes on it, mainly because when SHIELD was still operating the man thought that his precious Bucky was dead.  It was noted that it was something they could exploit it wasn’t frequently abused, it seems as if SHIELD may have had a small modicum of compassion left inside its rotting and flatulence ridden corpse.  After the fall of SHIELD, for obvious reasons, no one thought to follow up on this, probably because as Ms Hill points out the man was intentionally circling the wagons.” Dacia told the two, trailing off just in the middle of a thought.

 

“He was likely to be attempting to find the man and avoiding alerting Dr Stark to what his money was being spent.  Do we have any indication of what it was?  Something tells me that it could have been about whatever the men were fighting about in that Siberian Base.” Cassian offered his two cents.

 

“I’ve been working on decrypting some of the video captured on the CCTV footage; the thing though is irritating me.  It doesn’t seem to be completely encrypted, which means that someone wanted the world to see what those men saw.  At least the first part, we know the men were fighting, but we still don’t know why that fight was fought.  Was it a ‘no holds barred’ or a fair fight?  Something tells me that Dr Stark could not have possibly gotten himself into the condition he is in, without it being a dirty fight.  Without Designation (Former): Captain America and Designation: Winter Soldier fighting to stop the man permanently.  You both saw the file that was sent over that gave us an overview, I can’t be sure what happened, but judging by some of the dents left on the armour, Designation (Former): Captain America was fighting for the kill.  It’s likely that he knew exactly what those Armours could take and went into a form of berserker rage, he had to protect his friend.  But I can’t be certain about any of this until we can talk to them.  This is where we on our own, he is in our cells but we don’t know if he has bothered to tell the others who were fighting with him, how he left it with Dr Stark.” Jyn explained, wanting to have some more say in how this next part would be likely to play out.

 

“Okay, we can work with that.  Now the woman was able to give us the information that the other Avengers should be easily worked with.  Except you guessed it, Designation: Hawkeye might have some experience with interrogation.  It’s likely that he has, but we can’t say whether or not the man will remember that training.  Designation: Falcon has a bit of a question mark above his head, simply because we cannot be sure what he may or may not know.  We can’t even be sure if he even knew about the possibility of Designation: Winter Soldier being behind the killing of Howard and Maria Stark.” Dacia explained with the air of a woman who knew she was talking about something big.

 

“That would leave Designation: Ant-Man as being the weak link, then wouldn’t it?” Cassian double checked, wanting to be sure of what he was saying.

 

“It seems that way, the guy has served time before, for uh White Collar Crime, so we don’t think that it is exceedingly likely that he knows how to withstand interrogation.  Remember, we don’t want to get our hands dirty with this, there are some levels I am happy to sink too, but torture is not one of them.  Designation: Scarlet Witch might be able to withstand standard interrogation efforts.  We do know for a fact that she was at point part of HYDRA, so at the very least we can expect her to have prepared for the likelihood of interrogation.  Furthermore, it’s likely that at one stage she participated in advanced torture techniques.” Dacia answered.

 

“Wait, how advanced are we talking here?” Jyn piped up, once she thought through some things.

 

“Ah huh, so advanced that even those hard-liners in the CIA would shudder to use those techniques.  We can work with this though because now that we have some indication of just what we can expect from them, we can anticipate their movements a bit easier.” Dacia hedged her bets.

 

Cassian whistled, he had read the same memos, and government reports that Dacia had read, and some of the things he read about the CIA were enough to give even him shudders.  That was saying a lot because as a spy for the Resistance he was no ‘shy maiden with a fit of the vapours’, he could reflect that he was honestly surprised that his mind hadn’t cracked a long time ago.  He wouldn’t have been so good at his former job as a spy if he was constantly getting captured by the G.E every time he stepped over his front door.  When he was unfortunate enough to be captured though, he couldn’t claim to not being accustomed to torture.

 

“Okay, so now that we have got that bit sorted out, are there any questions that she wants us to ask?  We need to know before we start to interview them after all.  And did she anything about the possibility of me being able to look at Dr Stark’s medical notes?” Jyn is unsure of whether or not the woman would let her (a complete stranger she reflected) have access to the man’s files.

 

“It is not Ms Hill’s decision whether or not we can have access to the man’s files; she does not have Power of Attorney medically speaking over Dr Stark.  She did point out that while Ms Potts used to have this power, she is no longer first.  Colonel Rhodes, for one thing, holds Dr Stark’s Power of Attorney, but understandably right now he hasn’t seen anything to indicate to him that they need to give someone they don’t necessarily trust or more rather know his medical notes.  Don’t forget that Dr Stark is well known for his distrust of Medical Professionals, and right now with everything up in the air, I wouldn’t feel comfortable enough to push it.  When we meet him, that may change, but for now, we have our orders, we should concentrate on working with them before we do anything else.” Dacia tried to explain, not wanting to ‘rock the boat too much’ and potentially irritate her friend.

 

“Okay, that sounds fair enough, in the meantime though, I have been going through some of those files, and it seems as if General Ross kept the staffers within the State Department in the dark about what he was up to.  We can expect that, but what surprised me, was that he managed to get out his ‘competition’ for his role as State Sectary.  As far as I can work out, he got rid of the previous woman through a combination of extortion and blackmail; now I wasn’t able to get further access to State Department files.  I was able to glean though that woman still has core contingent of supporters planted within the Department.  This at least I was able to work out that the remaining members, or at least the suspected members are under some amount of surveillance,” Jyn started before pausing looking slightly conflicted with what she was saying.

 

“Okay, have you been able to work out who the previous Secretary was, and how to contact her?” Dacia asked frowning as she thought through some of the potential ramifications.

 

“Yes, it was an Elizabeth McCord, I have gone through some of her previous employment records, and she was employed for a while by the CIA and then by a University.  Before you ask, I haven’t been able to work out exactly what Ross has over the woman; it could be something we can link to her family or former employees.  Would you like me to see if I can reach out to her?  We may be able to manipulate the situation if we can get a clearer picture of what is going on.” Jyn mumbled as she wrung her hands.

 

“Not right now, if we keep an eye on the situation, we may be able to find something that we can use any and all information later.  But right now we need to focus on what is going on on our spaceship,” Dacia instructed, looking thoughtful. “for now we need to be sure that we have crossed our ‘t’s and dotted our ‘I’s to start worrying about whatever is happening down there.  We don’t want to get caught and have our presence questioned.  I don’t have to explain why right?”

 

“No, you don’t, I will keep half an eye on that problem, because as you said we need to keep our wits about us right now.  Is there anything you want me to focus on?” Jyn answered looking a little irritated.

 

“For now, we need to conduct these interviews, but before we start those, I need to be sure that there is nothing wrong with the spaceship.  Is there anything you would like to tell me Cassian?” Dacia asked the man, piercing him with all of her attention.

 

Cassian fought a shudder when he realised that the women were both paying him attention.  He might not like it when the two were focused on him, but he was as always able to power through and speak.

 

“We have been lucky so far and have been able to avoid damage.  Or at least, on a larger scale, but I am becoming concerned about some of what I have seen.  I don’t foresee the repairs becoming urgent unless we decide to go into space.  On that level as soon as we can dock somewhere I can make sure that nothing is likely to kill us, if we should decide to go quickly, then I’d be hesitant.” Cassian answered in a measured tone of voice.

 

“Alright, we can make that the first time we are invited to New York, we go and you can work on getting the spaceship sorted.  Does that sound okay?” Dacia asked, looking at the man.

 

“Yeah, that should do, so far I haven’t seen enough to worry me, it’s more something to keep in mind before we perform our next stunt.  Do you think we will be able to go home at some point?” Cassian fired back thoughtfully.

 

“Right now, I don’t want to focus on that, but I don’t see any reason to say we shouldn’t.  At least, not unless we get some indication that we should run and make ourselves scarce, we don’t want to wander into a situation we know nothing about, after all.  For now, though, we should make sure that we keep all of our attention focused on this Universe.  Is that okay?” Dacia checked, sighing as she spoke.

 

Cassian thought briefly about what he was hearing and swallowed down the feeling of disappointment that was coursing through him.  He realised that he couldn’t get too disappointed with the woman, he guessed that the woman was working through so many different pieces of information, that it would be difficult to parse through everything.  One thing that he would probably always find astonishing about Dacia’s method of leadership was that everything was run with a democracy air.  By which he meant that between the three of time, they each had some amount to say in how their teams were run, even though Dacia carried the deciding vote.

 

It wasn’t incredibly difficult for him to feel like his voice was being listened too, even if it could be frustrating at times.  Cassian wondered if it was likely that the Resistance, back when he found fought within, could be improved by democratic rule.  He could see the benefits, but having sat through a few meetings of the upper echelons, all arguing why their concerns, from their home systems and worlds, were more important than anyone else’s.  It would sometimes seem as if nobody was willing to concede that anyone else could have any reason that they shouldn’t agree with the man.  It was enough to make the man want to lose his temper.

 

Deciding that he had had enough of the politics, usually made him leave the large meeting room in a high temper.  One thing that he hated was when nobody could decide what to do, arguing among themselves when he could see a clear course of action.  As always it would seem like whenever a person came to power, they forgot that the smaller people mattered  There was more that one occasion when he had stormed out of a meeting room in the high dudgeon!

 

“Okay, well we can look after all of that easily enough right?  For now, we need to work out who we can still trust that we have left behind.  In this Universe, because while I know that I should have raised this earlier, but I am not about to get myself into trouble for a bunch of people we don’t even know.” Cassian brought up suddenly.

 

Dacia looked at the man and wondered why she hadn’t already thought of this course of action.  Deciding to play devil’s advocate she spoke up.

 

“I see you’re the point, but I think we know that we can trust those we have left behind in New York, right?” Dacia tried to lead the man to a conclusion.

 

“Yes, I know that we can trust those people, but do we know if we can trust anyone else?” Cassian tried to protest.

 

“If you want, I can reach out to Former Secretary McCord, see if I can get her take on things. Otherwise, I’m not sure who we can reach out too.” Jyn offered thoughtfully.

 

“Right now, we don’t know who we can trust, but I have been watching some of the staffers at MI5, the British Security Service, I have a feeling that those people have access to a cache of documents that could blow everything about this whole situation out of the water.” Dacia ventured.

 

“What, why didn’t you tell us that you had possibly been in contact with anyone else that we had left behind?  Did you not think that we should be as honest with each other?  Why should we be honest with you, if we can’t expect that same treatment from you?” Cassian huffed impatiently.

 

“Cassian at the moment, I haven’t been able to talk to anyone, just snoop on a few of their programs and in the vernacular sense, listen to them talk to one another.  Any information that I have managed to lift has been exceptionally garbled; I haven’t been able to work out exactly what has bee said.  Imagine it as a game of Chinese Whispers or Telephone, if you will, anything that I have been able to glean is extremely confusing, and I haven’t felt able to trust the veracity of the information enough to bother sharing with you guys.” Dacia apologised.

 

“Okay, well that makes sense, but Dacia, I think I speak for both of us when I request that you tell us.” Jyn tried to mediate.

 

Dacia nodded slowly, knowing that it was unfair of her to hold back on some parts off Intel, simply because she couldn’t be sure if they were accurate.  Shooting a heavy look at Cassian, she reminded herself of the man’s previous job; he would no doubt be able to find a small amount of information before he felt the need to confirm.  She felt herself wondering if she should pull in the other two more often.

 

“Okay, we can work with some of this.  But can we please start focusing more on the interviews.  Were there any questions mentioned that she wanted us to ask?” Cassian asked, wanting to be sure that he fell on the right side of this.

 

“Yes, there were a few questions mentioned, some that we should keep in mind, as we go into interviewing them.” Dacia remarked before she looked down, wanting to consult a small notebook that Cassian hadn’t seen, “They want us to ask the standard questions, like why they got themselves involved in this mess.  Just the whole mess at the airport, we don’t need to get into why they got themselves involved in being superheroes.”

 

“Okay, but is that all that they want to know.  We could use this opportunity to get to the bottom of why they thought that it would be a good idea for them to rebel.” Jyn lightly asked, raising her eyebrows as she spoke.

 

“I think we caught Ms Hill off guard; they may not have anticipated us being able to apprehend the former Avengers that quickly.  She wants to know what Rogers told them to make them think that stepping away from Dr Stark was a good idea.  Surely they must have realised that Dr Stark was able to keep them from legal trouble?  She wants to know if any thought process went into this.  She has privately stated that she doesn’t think there was much.  At least not once they had heard that Designation: Scarlet Witch had been locked up by the mean old Dr Stark.” Dacia flicked her eyes over the notebook, ending in a mocking tone.

 

“Never underestimate the power of a young woman over a man Cassian.  Do we know if anything was going on between those men and the woman?” Jyn laughed.

 

“There doesn’t seem to be any indication, it seems like it may be a bit of a paternal type relationship, so it’s not likely to be romantic.  That doesn’t mean that we can take it easy on them, or her, because it’s likely that she got further onto the Avengers radar, because she wanted revenge.  She was likely deliberately acting in such a fashion to ensure that she didn’t feel any of the ramifications overthrowing her lot in with HYDRA or even ULTRON.” Dacia summarised for the pair.

 

“l can see her attempting this because we can see the woman attempting to make that kind of play.  She didn’t see any positive in Dr Stark’s actions, so if she could separate the man from the Avengers, then it would be better.  I know that it would be something that I would try.” Cassian thoughtfully remarked.

 

“Okay, well, we can ask her what her motives were when she went into this situation.  We might be able to find out some of the woman’s background; it doesn’t seem like it would be a good decision on our part to completely trust the records the woman had when she worked with HYDRA.  Anything that they have could have, could have been forged, she could have manipulated their view of her and her brother.  After that, from what I can tell it seems like the remaining Avengers circled the wagons and protected her from further scrutiny.  This was no doubt aided by a Dr Stark who still felt guilty over his part in ULTRON.” Dacia tried to offer.  She wanted to remember all of the things that she was now promising and not forget anything later.

 

“But weren’t there inquests, that Dr Stark, voluntarily submitted to, that cleared him of the role as sole creator of ULTRON?  So shouldn’t they have noticed that the man was later absolved?  I can’t understand why they thought that it was okay to keep on blaming on the man?” Jyn frowned, lifting her tablet to try and search through for some things.

 

“There was something, but as per usual, the Avengers wouldn’t have missed it if they had been paying attention.  It seems as if Designation (Former): Captain America wasn’t thinking of the team, the only thing on his mind was getting to his good pal Bucky.  I can’t see much that would speak to his brand of leadership while he was leading the Avengers.” Cassian answered already having pulled up the information and scanning it.

 

“There was The Howling Commandos during the Second World War, which could have been used to hint at his leadership.  That certainly worked like a well-oiled machine, but he wouldn’t have been the leader of that group in normal circumstances.  For one thing, he wasn’t the highest ranked military personnel there.  Sergeant Barnes at least was higher ranked than him.  That disregards the notion that the man had only spent about a week in a boot camp, his rank as Captain, only came about through propaganda moves.  Ms Hill told me that she got into touch with some in the US Army, and they couldn’t find any indication that the man ever advanced past the rank of Private Rogers.” Dacia tried to defend the man.

 

She tried to hide a shudder as she momentarily thought that she was defending one of the people that were locked up beneath them in the prison cells.  

 

“Do you think that we can do anything regarding what we find out about what answers they provide during the interviews?” Jyn asked, leaning her head to the side.

 

It seems like it, but we don’t want to give them ammunition that they can use against us if this ever makes it to a court setting.  We also don’t want to take on a role of becoming judge, jury and executioner, simply because Stark Industries doesn’t need that kind of a headache, especially this close to the end.  At the same time, we don’t want to work ourselves into a position where we can’t see the wood for the trees.” Dacia answered having thought of some of the likely problems that they would begin to face.

 

“Look Jyn are you okay?  Would you like to fight one of us to get some of the physical pressure you can feel beginning to build up?” Cassian asked concerned.

 

He was looking over at the woman, watching her shift her weight from foot to foot, filled with the kind of nervous energy that looked like it could force her to make the kind of silly mistakes, that only served to irritate Cassian.  Of course, the energy could irritate the three of them, so Cassian wasn't obnoxious right at this moment in time.

 

“Yeah, okay, I don’t want to make some glaring mistake that can be used against us later,” Jyn answered, wincing as she wrung her hands together.

 

“I’ll do it; you keep working here Cassian, we don’t need to even think about messing up here.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

James, awoke in the prison cell, he still wasn’t sure exactly where he was, but for now, he was comfortable.  He was aware of the fact that ever since Stevie had found him, he just seemed to be bouncing from crisis to crisis, with no time in between to breathe.  He had thought that once he had broken free from HYDRA, at least physically, he wasn’t sure if he would ever feel completely free from them, he would have the ability to stop lurching from bad decision to the next.

 

For a time he had been able to make his own choices, at least as much as the Winter Soldier could be tricked into giving up the reigns over his body for a while.  He had been able to work out exactly what he had done under the command of HYDRA ‘to shape the world’.  He hadn’t thought that it was possible for him to feel so disgusted with himself, but he stood corrected.

 

He wondered if he would always feel some form of guilt, which left him with the horrible pain, of wondering exactly what he had been party to.  He could argue with himself that he had no choice to do whatever his masters wanted him to do.  That didn’t stop him from feeling the guilty and wondering if he would ever be able to forgive himself.

 

He might not remember a lot about his old friend, but he knew (and had already heard) Stevie’s bleating that it wasn’t his fault, that he was brainwashed.  James had to wonder if Stevie had ever had any experience with either guilt or brainwashing.  If he had James would guess that the man wouldn’t say (or do) the things he came out with, on a near constant basis.

 

He had to wonder if Stevie had been messed up from when he was young, he dealt with fleeting memories of Stevie not being disciplined, simply because he was so small, so sickly, even if he was _constantly_ misbehaving.  James could remember that if he hadn’t been able to step in and pull Stevie back from fights in the neighbourhood, he would be long dead.

 

James’ hands twitched a little as he thought that he missed some of his notebooks, he missed being able to record his thoughts, so he could begin to shore up some of his memory.  He wanted to be able to focus on the past, and trying to track down where and what he had done.

 

James felt like he couldn’t do that with Stevie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is starting to include parts of Madam Secretary (because I love the show) but so far you don't need to have watched the show. As always I'll include anything in this part that is probably a good idea to be aware of.
> 
> See The Wood From The Trees - Essentially when you get so far stuck into a task that you forget to look at the bigger picture.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The interviews (or interrogations) begin, Jyn and Dacia left off some steam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the chapter and please feel free to like or comment (seriously starting to wonder if anyone is reading this one)

Cassian wandered into the gym after his two friends, wondering why he had come down here, it certainly didn’t seem as if the two women would need his help in any case.  Cassian was well aware that the two women were completely capable on their own, he had endured enough lectures from the two women to convince him of that fact.  Still, he thought that it seemed likely to be more interesting for him to watch, rather than stare at a blinking computer screen and try to work out how he should play out the next few days.  Folding his arms across his chest, Cassian wondered to himself how he could anticipate the fight playing out.  One the one hand, he knew better than to discount Jyn, because he had seen her fight before, and some of the woman’s earlier years had come at the hands of Saw Guerra, a man who took no prisoners.  A man who held the view that anyone who could not keep up with him, didn’t deserve a place in the Resistance.  Cassian could guess that at one stay Saw had left Jyn behind, and the only reason he could comfortably make such assumptions, was because he had seen the massive chip on Jyn’s shoulders.

 

That wasn’t to say that he didn’t think that Dacia could be successful, because while he may not be completely privy to all of the woman’s skills, but he knew that the woman had been a Jedi, back in their Home Universe.  While, Cassian may not be completely sure of all of Jedi’s capabilities, they having been nothing more than a pleasant myth, and a whispered story that told of the hope that had once prevailed the Universe.  Cassian had been an orphan, desperately running for his life, not wanting to be taken in by Empire, he may not have had much, but he could easily see what could happen if he should be taken by the evil group, after all, he would blame the Empire for cruelly taking away his family.

 

Quietly humming to himself, he wandered over to the large bench seat and perched himself on the edge of the bench.  Casting his eyes over to the large ring that the two women had now taken their place in, he cocked his head to the side watching and waiting for the women to begin fighting.  Fighting the possibility of becoming bored, he watched as the women sized each up, he wondered if the two realised that this was merely a practice run, they wouldn’t be likely to make any silly mistakes.

 

Jyn suddenly threw her body into some stretching motions, alongside Dacia who was doing the same alongside her.  Shaking out some of the nerves in her, Jyn peered over at the woman before pausing briefly with her head cocked to the side.  When Jyn saw the woman nodding at her, Jyn abruptly nodded and stopped to face the Dacia.  When Jyn faced the woman, she took in a series of deep breaths, before throwing her body forward in a punishing kick and punch combination, trying to reach any part of the woman’s body.  It didn’t work because Dacia was quick to lean back, going through a series of motions that hinted at the power that was crawling underneath her skin.

 

Cassian couldn’t even lie that he had long felt a small degree of nerves when it came to Dacia, he still wasn’t even sure if the woman was using all of her capabilities.  He hadn’t even been sure if the woman could be counted on to move against someone else in a defensive (or even offensive) manner, not in a consistent fashion at any rate.  Cassian knew that Dacia had sometimes used those at times, but she neglected to rely on her strength constantly.  Cassian would sometimes wonder if Dacia would allow herself to begin working once again with him, to try and rein in on that strength once again.  She needed to learn to utilise every skill she had in her arsenal.

 

It would always be a regret that the man had pushed Dacia too far and too hard once, but he had needed to know, not just for his peace of mind, but also for both Jyn and himself.  He thought to himself that he should attempt to approach her again with the intent of working on the Jedi woman’s strength.  As if they weren’t already swimming in some of the work that they would have to work on, the possibility of his lessons could not be pushed completely to the side, but they couldn’t be kept to the forefront of what was already a growing, ulcer-inducing stressful amount of work.

 

Focusing back in on the fight going on in the ring, Cassian cocked his head to the side as he winced as he watched Dacia wrap herself around Jyn, trying to subdue the woman to the point where she takes in a deep breath as she tried to catch her breath.  Jyn shook the woman loose and ducked away from the woman momentarily heaving in the great lungfuls of air.  Smirking at the woman when she jumped into the air, twisting herself around, to catch the woman on the right side with her left foot.

 

Chuckling lowly to herself, Jyn landed back down in a sudden crouch, with her arms up, carefully watching Dacia for her next move.  Bent over double, as Dacia fought to catch her breath, she straightened upright and peered across at Jyn.  Quickly lowering herself into an offensive position, before straightening herself upright again, and swinging herself closer to the woman, at the last second launching a powerful kick at the woman’s side.  It was for nought though, especially when the woman neatly sidestepped the weak kick.

 

Jyn knew very well that it would serve to irritate the woman even further if she peered at her, with a calculating look in her eyes.  Slowly making her way around the panting woman, in a wide semi-circle, Jyn almost waited for a hair too long before she quickly leaned all of her weight back onto one of her feet.  Sucking in a sudden breath of air, Dacia watched as the woman took a running leap from the woman.

 

Finding a sudden second wind of energy, Dacia quickly sidestepped the woman’s swinging legs, and smirked to herself before muttering quietly to herself,

 

“My turn.”

 

Dacia backflipped over the ring, before landing just behind Jyn and swung a leg at behind the woman’s knees.  Smirking a little to herself when the woman began to stumble to forward.  Muttering to herself heatedly when Jyn took a few seconds to steady herself but still swung up with a sudden roar, and swung herself around, her fists already coming up, swinging to try and land a punch with the woman.  Swaying her body away from the wildly moving fists.  Muttering to herself, Dacia leaned forwards and grabbed the woman’s shoulders, hurriedly wrapping an arm around the woman’s shoulders, trying to limit the amount of movement that the woman could find before she moved back trying to limit any amount of pain.

 

Taking a deep breath as she tried to keep the hold on Jyn, ducking and weaving in her movements, not wanting to be clocked right before they started the interview process started.  Breathing in a deep sigh, as her abused lungs finally took in a big lungful of the oxygen that she felt she had been denied since starting to spar.

 

Unfortunately, Dacia’s grip loosened when her muscles began to rest, again, still not sure how she was expected to play the next part.  Making a quick decision to herself, she tried to ease the woman to the ground.  But as all things happen, Dacia’s muscle gave an abrupt tremor, loosening her grip on the woman.  Jyn was able to use the momentary loss in focus on Dacia’s part by slipping out of her grip and attempting to diving backwards from the woman’s grasp.

 

Growling a little, when she quickly realised that this spar wasn’t over between the two, Dacia reached for the weakened strands of the Force.  Not having much to work with, she pulled on the small amount she could access and leapt up, allowing the small amount to propel her further.  Landing neatly on her feet, Dacia stared at the woman, panting across from her, not wanting to tire each other out too much, she cautiously darted a glance at a bored looking Cassian.

 

The man was seated still watching the two of them, Dacia found that she did not particularly enjoy the look on the man’s face.  Or at least the look that she could parse from his expression.  She thought that the man looked as if he was beginning to add to Dacia’s gym work and routine, something which Dacia for one wasn’t in any form to rush through.  Focusing her attention back on the woman standing across from her, Dacia tried to give the woman some indication that now it was time for them to wrap this up.  She thought the thing would be easier if she simply had express permission to enter the woman’s mind, at least when they weren’t running for their lives.  If there was one thing that Dacia had promised herself never to do, it was to violate and enter her teammate's minds unless she had too.  This came down to situations like if they were ever engaged in combat, then she could whisper suggestions, but she felt like she didn’t trust herself to always dipping in and out of other’s minds, and influencing them.

 

Jyn slowly got the impression and nodded; she knew well enough when it was time to call it a day.  It was time for them to continue with their day.  Straightening herself upright with a groan as she thought of the aches and pains she would likely face the following day.  Some things though were worth paying the price for, at least now that she would be able to focus on the interviews.

 

“So, Cassian, have you gotten any work done with regards to the spaceship?  Do you know if we are likely to run into any difficulty with regards to the spaceship?” Jyn asked the man, hoping that she could distract him from whatever he was thinking.

 

“Yeah, we are going to need to land at some point, so that I can give the spaceship an adequate look over, but for now I am confident enough to state that it is not likely that we should run  into trouble immediately,”  Cassian told the women.

 

He was sucking on his bottom lip, as he thought through some more of the issues he had managed to overturn in his hunt through some of the spaceship’s engines for faults.

 

Dacia nodded at the man and leant back, some thoughts running through her head as she tried to think through some more of their moves.  Absently raising her arms and delicately sniffing at her armpit, wincing a little when she realised that she needed a shower before she went into the interviews.  Shooting a glance over at Jyn, she groaned quietly to herself and quietly spoke.

 

“Jyn, we need to get a shower before we head in, Cassian will you be okay to make a list of the questions that we need to ask them, while we run?  Don’t want to gas them after all!” Dacia joked a little.

 

“Yeah, I should be fine, I’ll get started on these questions now, and meet you guys in the central nodule in fifteen minutes. Cassian nodded at the woman before wandering off.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Cassian made his way to the central nodule and pulled out his notebook app on his tablet computer.  Pulling up some of the notes, he began to tap at the screen, making a series of notes to himself.

  * Ask about their background, how they got involved with ‘heroism’, 
    * Take a beat on asking on whether or not their current actions make sense to them at present.
  * Make sure to ask questions of some of the longer term Avengers how they may have concluded that Dr Stark was a bad guy, especially when they happily fought alongside the guy for years.
  * Inquire about how they view Designation: Scarlet Witch, her relationships with the others is creepy and borderline problematic.
  * When questioning Designation: Winter Soldier, make sure that the man is completely aware of what he has stepped into and who he fights alongside. It’s entirely possible that he is not aware that Designation: Scarlet Witch was (IS) a HYDRA agent.
  * It would be interesting to ask him if there is any possibility that he recognises the woman, even if this is a shot in the dark.
  * Ask if it was even possible that the men did not understand what they were getting themselves involved with.



 

Cassian was about to make even more notes when the door _WHOOSH_ ed open behind him.  Not even bothering to turn round, he already knew who would be at the door.  Glancing at the small digital clock at the top of his tablet screen, he raised an eyebrow quietly impressed when he saw that his two friends had been on time.  He was still liable to struggle with the idea that the women could be on time, because even though they both were notoriously on time (the spaceship ran on an amalgamation of military perfunctoriness, it was a holdover from their home) but he would sometimes see jokes about women never being on time.

 

“We need to interview Designation: Ant-Man, I want to understand if the man was completely cognizant of the situation that he has found himself in,” Cassian told the women walking in.

 

He wanted a reason to break the silence, not even caring if it was spuriosity that led him to break the silence before the women even got started to speak.  It was important to him that he should be able to get the other two caught up on some of what he was working through.

 

“That’s good, do you have any idea which questions you want to ask?” Jyn asked the man.

 

“Well like I said we need to make sure that they completely understand where they are, so we can ask him about why he has found himself in the position he is in.  I also want to ask him, why he was so sure that Dr Stark is a bad guy, we don’t have records of him even meeting the man before this whole Civil War mess.  We need to make sure that he understands that Pym, who I think is his backer, hasn’t even met Dr Stark either, so it is the height of folly to believe the man on everything.” Cassian told the women frowning to himself.

 

“Okay, it sounds like you might be better to take this interview, or at least sit in, I want Jyn to provide security and probably to ask the questions, something tells me that she has a chance to build a rapport with the man, is that okay with you guys?” Dacia instructed the two.

 

“That’s fine, but just as a matter of interest what will you be doing while we are in with the guy?” Cassian waved the woman off.

 

“I’ll be here; I want to watch the man’s reactions and body language.  Just to remind you guys, that we will, of course, be recording the interviews.  I don’t expect much, but we may be able to catch them in a lie.” Dacia shrugged.

 

Looking over at the other two with a fierce look on her face, she looked down and away from the two before wandering over to the computer almost aimlessly.  Cassian studied the woman briefly and thought to himself that it was unlikely that the woman should do anything by accident, it was more of a matter of waiting her out.  Cassian was confident that he could, he had played in more difficult games, against deceptively complicated opponents.  Whatever was brewing on the woman’s mind, could (if not would) become important, he wouldn’t automatically dismiss it out of hand.  Some of the things that woman knew or even guessed at had the unique probability of becoming important for the day-to-day running of the spaceship.  Nodding once at the woman, before guiding Jyn from the room, he tried to mentally prepare himself for what was likely to happen next.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

The two of them made their way through the spaceship, each trying to steal glances at one another when they thought the other wasn’t looking.  Clearing his throat, which at this point was almost akin to a reflexive action.

 

“You okay with speaking with him?  I know you didn’t say anything in front of Dacia in there, but I just want to make sure that you are okay with how this thing is likely to play out.” Cassian asked.

 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, I expect that Dacia thought I would be able to ‘reach the guy because of some of my experiences at dabbling at operating on the other side of the law.  Was he the only one to have a criminal record before this started right?  I can sort of understand some of his actions.” Jyn supplied dully.

 

“The only difference is what he had committed was a white collar crime, you were running for your life from a repressive regime that admittedly was attempting to wipe out everyone, that’s a little different from his previous crimes in my book.  Do you want me to stand and look menacing in the background?” Cassian briefly hugged the woman to himself as they walked.

 

“Can it be that simple though?  The crimes that we have both committed can and should in no way be conflated, like you said I was running for my life, never sure if I could trust someone enough.  It’s worth a try though because it seems like the guy might not have been told a lot about the situation before him getting involved.  But I do wonder if the guy will be able to give us anything credible to go on.” Jyn sighed.

 

“It’s worth a chance; you know that we aren’t simply doing this for our health right?” Cassian checked.  He wanted to know that his friend was in the right head space to be talking going in and doing what she had promised to do.

 

“Oh, don’t worry I still remember what we are trying to do, I just wish that so much of my life hadn’t brought about violence,” Jyn told the man in a despondent tone of voice.

 

Cassian looked at the woman, with worry clear in his eyes.  He knew that his friend would occasionally struggle with what she saw as her lot in life.  Personally, he thought that Jyn was a touch too young to begin looking back on the life she had lived thus far, but he didn’t want to become the sort to judge his friends, based on what they-they were going through.  It might have been a difficult lesson to learn, especially after he had left the Resistance, but there was no place for him to judge others.  If he chooses to keep information close to his chest and keep his confidences private, then that just meant that some things were hard to forget.

 

Drawn out of more introspection when the pair arrived at the door to the prison wing, Cassian briefly held out an arm to the woman he was walking with and raised a hand to his face.  Making sure that the hood he was wearing obscured his features, he might be planning on speaking with Designation: Ant-Man but he wanted to make sure that the man was thrown.  Cassian could attest to the fact that it could sometimes be surprising the amount of information that could be obtained if the other part was kept in the dark.  Even if there were times when he doubted the veracity of the information, even know he was not in the torture business, he was aware that anyone he was ~~interrogating~~ questioning would be likely to tell him lies, if they thought Cassian would go easier on them.  Nodding once to a silent Jyn who did the same, the two entered through the door.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Making their way into the cells in silence, the two of them knew not to speak, without even looking at them, they both knew that the prisoners were no doubt staring at them.  Jyn for one wondered if they should have worked harder to ensure that the prisoners knew what was happening.  Fighting a small shrug, she realised that some people were not willing to see any fault in their actions, it was basic nature.  Something that she had run into a few times before.

 

Shaking her head of the thoughts, Jyn made her way over to the central computer desk, and with the help of Cassian, altered a few of the settings, wanting to make sure that everything could be kept safe.  For starters, she pressed a few of the buttons and retrieved a small set of silver coloured handcuffs.

 

While she was performing these actions, Cassian looked at the computer and swiping his access card a few times; he glanced up at the cells quickly before refocussing his attention.  Frowning momentarily, he ensured that the cells were all securely locked, it was possibly worth more than his life that nobody should be able to escape while they were retrieving Designation: Ant-Man.  He made sure to lock the cells tightly, not wanting to be suddenly be faced with too many prisoners to handle if they should manage to get through the tightly locked doors.

 

Looking down at her small tablet, Jyn made her way over to the cell that held Designation: Ant-Man, ensuring that she still held a pair of handcuffs and made her way over to the cell that housed Designation: Ant-Man.  Slipping the tablet into her pocket, she tapped at the screen facing the man’s cells, pausing to allow the iris scanner to scan her eyes.  It was at this point that she knew enough to realise that the computer was quickly going through a database of hers, Cassian’s and Dacia’s iris’ making sure that it wouldn’t open for anyone else.  Once the door hissed open beside her, she ducked into the confused man’s cell and managed to safely secure the man’s wrists behind his back.

 

When she was satisfied that the man could not escape from her hold, she marched the man from the cell.  Once the two of them were out, Jyn nodded over at the man facing her, Cassian took his cue and closed and locked the cell behind the two.  Following the two from the cells, Cassian kept his silence and tried to look as intimidating as he could.

 

The odd-looking trio made their way into a separate interrogation room.  Designation: Ant-Man was sat in a metallic seat, with his wrists locked into a small bar protruding from the table.  Jyn took a seat across from the man, and loosened her hood, peering across at the man.  She studied the man intently, trying to work out some of his motives, she hid a smirk when she noticed how uncomfortable he is beginning to get, shifting his weight around in the seat below him. 

 

Allowing the man to become even more uncomfortable, she decided to put the man out of his misery and began to speak.

 

“Hello, Designation: Ant-Man, we have taken you on here in response to your actions in the recent Civil War.  Now before we begin, can I ask you if you completely understand the situation you have found yourself in?” Jyn asked politely.  She still wasn’t sure what to make of the uncomfortably shifting man across from her.

 

“No, I mean, yes I understand, sort of, I think.” Scott frowned looking even more confused.

 

“Right, well you see you stepped into a situation that shouldn’t have involved you, we can see that you acted on a small scale in San Franciso within the past year.  But you weren’t actually a part of the Avengers, so if you could explain to us some of why you opted to get involved?” Jyn asked gently, cocking her head to the side as she tried to innocently get to the bottom of the man’s actions.

 

“In the run-up to that incident in San Francisco, I had to break into the Avengers Compound where I fought with Mr Wilson.  To cut a long story short, he must have remembered me from that incident and rang me.  He told me that Steve Rogers was having a problem that Stark wasn’t willing to listen too.  That squared with some of the things that Hank had told me about Stark.” Lang told Jyn looking at once defensive and conflicted.

 

“Just changing the subject here briefly, have you read much history, sir?  Or even read a newspaper critically?  I’m going to guess that based on some your actions that you don’t have much experience thinking critically.  If you had, then you would have known that you shouldn’t have trusted Mr Pym’s words, at least not as gospel.  We haven’t been able to find any kind of indication that the two men had ever met.  What we do however that Mr Pym had previously worked with the senior Stark, who was known to be a bit of an asshole.  So well done, you got yourself locked up on the word of a bitter old man.” Jyn told the man lightly.

 

“No, but that isn’t true why would Hank lie to me?  He told me that everybody knew that Stark was just like his Daddy, an asshole.” Scott sneered, trying to look discomfited.

 

“He thought that Stark Snr had taken his inventions from him.  We have been able to find that once his wife had gone missing, he began to separate himself from anyone he had previously been close to.  I bet he didn’t tell you that at one stage that he was good friends with the man.  There was some amount of personal decisions that Stark Snr made that maybe Mr Pym could have aborted.  Right now though, that isn’t important.  I want to know what you were told to make it seem like a good idea to get involved with something that didn’t need to concern you?” Jyn explained to the man.

 

“I was told that Steve Rogers had asked for me personally, even though I had never met the guy.  And what are you supposed to do when the great Captain America asks for you.  I couldn’t say no, could you say no to the man?” Lang tried to ask the other man.

 

“Very easy, but I am wondering why you decided to say yes.  You hadn’t met the man; it’s likely that the man only wanted you for the warm body and the potential distraction you could provide.  Had you ever had any indication that the man knew of yo before you choose to get involved?  We went through some of your background, and you had no experience in law enforcement or military experience.  In fact, it is likely that Hank Pym didn’t expect too much from you either, because not to mean he didn’t want his daughter to get in the suit, to him you were likely to be nothing more than a pawn.” Jyn told the man calmly.

 

“That can’t be true, why would the man not care too much for me?” Lang tried to compose himself.

 

“Sorry, but that’s true, I don’t like to hurt you with no good intentions.  I want to know if you have any observations of how the other Rogue: Avengers interact with one another.  There are some things that we would like to be to question if you have anything to provide now is the time.” Jyn briskly told the man, not sure if it was sympathy for the man she could see in front of her beginning to well up at her insides.

 

“I don’t know these people well enough to give you any ideas of how they interact with one another.  But I did find it curious how they seem to rally around the woman, they refer to her as a child, but she’s not a child is she?  In my mind once you have hit the age of consent, started to vote, sometimes even before that, you have become an adult.  If she was a child what the hell are they thinking allowing the woman or girl to fight alongside them?” Mr Lang hotly asked.

 

“That is what we would like to get to the bottom off; we can’t understand why the other Avengers seemed to rally around the woman.  We want to make sure that she didn’t do anything nefarious to them, that’s all.” Jyn replied.

 

In a sense, she felt like she measured the man in front of her and she was pretty sure that if she cared to look over her shoulder, Cassion would no doubt be doing the same thing.

 

All Cassian knew was that right now he was finding the man interesting, or at least some of the man’s potential decisions seemed interesting.  Cassian couldn’t say one way or another that he completely agreed with the man’s most recent actions, but it was interesting for him to attempt to peel back some of the rationales at work.

 

“Wait nefarious?  Is it possible that she is doing something to them without their permission?  Could she be doing something to them that isn’t in their best interests?  If someone has been then how are they standing for it?  You say that I shouldn’t have taken Hank’s word of Stark at face value, but they don’t seem to like the guy, so what exactly is going on there?”

 

“That is what we suspect, but for right now, you just need to concern yourself with the world of shit you have found yourself in.  Right now, Dr Stark hasn’t woken up from his little sojourn to Siberia, so I've got to say I have to hope that the man wakes up, because otherwise, it could look bad for a lot of you guys.” Jyn told the man seriously; she still wasn’t sure how much was going into the man’s head.

 

“Wait, but if he was in Siberia, then how should that affect how my actions look?  Because you know that I wasn’t even in Siberia right?  It wasn’t even me who told the man to go to Siberia.  It was that Wilson guy, I think he’s in the Air Force or something?” Designation: Ant-Man looks genuinely confused as he tried to defend himself.

 

“That doesn’t matter as much as your actions during the fight.  You messed with the Iron Man suit while it was in flight and Designation: Scarlet Witch dumped a load of cars on the guy, that doesn’t even begin to cover the damages that you guys left behind.  We are even going to claim that we can completely absolve you of any wrongdoing, but the guy that could?  He’s still in a coma, and you injured him, now do you feel any small amount of guilt over what you have done?” Jyn finished in disgust looking over at the man behind her.

 

Deciding that she didn’t want to look at the man any longer, she felt a growing kernel of sickness growing in her belly.  It didn’t make a lot of sense to her; she still fought feelings of wondering how the man could have unwittingly stepped into something he didn’t understand.  Jyn wondered if that was possibly some indication of the American way of thinking?  She might be new to this Universe at times, but she could admit that it sometimes as if America got involved in other countries problems without having to be invited.  She did wonder if it ever seemed as tiring to people on the ground as it did to her.

 

Looking over at Cassian, she saw a small flicker in the man’s expression; she raised her eyebrow when she was sure that only Cassian could see her face.  The man must be feeling a whole mix of emotions, his face which normally seemed like an impenetrable Cold Rolled Steel Wall was allowing a small silver of emotions to cross his face.  Jyn considered that for a someone like Designation: Ant-Man who was still sat at the table behind them, he wouldn’t be able to read a lot (if anything) on the inscrutable face.  To someone like Jyn, who knew the man, she could see a small array of emotions cross his faces.

 

Nodding briefly at the man, Cassian moved forwards and cuffed the man’s hands behind his back.  Allowing Cassian to walk with his hand on the man’s shoulders, the strange looking trio made their way back to the cell in silence.  Both Cassian and Jyn were both attempting to stomach what they had heard. 

 

It would take them a while to feel as if they were once again clean (or even completely lucid and clear-headed).  Passing through the doors of the spaceship, the two shared a look, deciding that it wasn’t worth their while to attempt to parse through some of what they had been told.  It wouldn’t do them much good, if they were even to begin to talk it through, no doubt Dacia had been watching and would also have ideas on how they could begin to work through some of what they had been told.

 

When the trio got to the cells, Jyn peeled off to the computer and opened up Designation: Ant-Man’s cell, looking up in time to see Cassian prodding the man through the door.  Cassian stopped by the small screen at the man’s cell and pressed a few buttons, to ensure that the door closed with a small _CLICK_ noise.  As one the two of them exited the cells, still not exchanging a word with one another.

 

_WHOOSH_

Not for the first time in his life, Scott felt like everything had gone silent on him, it commonly happened to him when he was faced with the difficult task of learning things that had the potential to destroy him.  He could well remember a similar thing happening when he learned that his parents were getting divorced.  He had been too young to understand; he had left with questions of whether or not it was his fault, could he have done something different?  He had only been ten years old at the time, and he could acknowledge that he was too young to begin to process the information.

 

At the time it had seemed like the worst thing that could happen, why couldn’t his parents simply stay together for him?  With the benefit of moving away from that time in his life, he could now claim that he understood that it wouldn’t have been fair of him to force them to stay together, not if they weren’t happy and always felt like they had to hide their arguing from their self-involved son.

 

Right now though, he felt like he was trying to comprehend something far bigger.  It would take him a while to come to terms with everything again; he did not doubt that he could stomach what he had just learned.  It probably hurt him even more because of this time he couldn’t blame his actions on anyone else.  Not, if he wanted to remain fair, he only had himself to blame for his part in this mess.  Nobody was telling him to go and fight in another man’s wars; it didn’t have to involve him.  He shouldn’t have been there.

 

Ha, but didn’t that feel like the story of his life, making stupid decisions before he got all the facts?  He couldn’t even try to defend himself, by claiming that he was being jerked around by someone else.  No, for once he was started to understand that he should learn to look before he leapt.  He wasn’t about to say that he didn’t feel completely ashamed of his previous criminal activity because he didn’t, but he was starting to feel a growing sense of shame about his most recent actions.

 

Feeling like he was utterly unable to face any more questions for the day, he stood beside the cell door and sank to his knees, wondering where he had so wrong.  He made sure to hide from the notice of the other Rogue Avengers, he wasn’t even sure if he still had the stomach to look at them.  Especially now that he had listened to some of the things that woman Jyn had hinted at.  Not for the first time he decided that he wanted to make a change in his life, he didn’t to become the kind of man that his daughter was ashamed of.  He had thought that he had made that decision the first time he came back, it had led him onto the path where he became Ant-Man, but now he felt like it was important that he should become introspective.  If he had started earlier, then maybe he wouldn’t have started to wonder if (and when) he had become a bad guy?

 

His hearing started to slowly return to him as he heard the others beginning to cry out to him, asking where he had been taken but he felt like he couldn’t speak up and tell them what had happened.  Not while he had been left with questions that he wanted to ask himself before he spoke to anyone.

 

Peering over his cell to the small bed, he clambered to his feet and made his way to his small cot bed, collapsing into the bed, he found himself hoping that Stark would pull through.  He had a metric fuck-ton of apologies to make.  Closing his eyes, he drowned out the sounds again, when he gave into listening to his thoughts once again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint is interviewed, he begins to realise that things cannot continue as they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The weather outside is awful (I hate you Storm Emma) and my cat has gone missing, I honestly wasn't sure if I would be able to get this up, but here you, hope you enjoy.
> 
> The comments button doesn't bite guys

Cassian and Jyn exchanged a glance, both of them were not sure what to make of the interview.  They could acknowledge that it would probably have been illuminating if not useful to Dacia, but at the moment they weren’t sure how what they could only describe as a massive waste of time, could be in any form useful.  Looking at one another and shrugging, they had both realised a long time ago that Dacia could be a lot smarter than them.  At least when it came to things like strategy, or reading between the lines, something which Cassian for one had had some experience with doing, but he wasn’t as patient as their Jedi friend to continue doing it.  Not to such a degree that he felt that he could rely upon to a similar degree as Dacia.

 

It would no doubt take them a long time to struggle through some of the things that she normally found so easy to deal with, or at least practised the art of making if look easy.  Dacia was flicking through some of the screens on the monitor, with what looked like a semi-permanent frown on her face.  Glancing at each other in consternation, they wondered how long this discussion would take.  Cassian darted around the far end of the nodule, and when he turned around to face them.  Folding his arms across his chest, as he tried to work out how he wanted this discussion to take place.

 

“So, what is the verdict you have of that interview Dacia?” Cassian asked, tightly.

 

“It seems as if we aren’t going to be able to get much sense out of the man, at least that was what I thought.” Dacia started, leaning back, chewing her lips.

 

“So, it seems as if the man wasn’t able to give us much more to go on, but there has to be something baked into that useless waffle?  I was too busy in there, watching the man’s reactions, asking him the questions, but did you hear anything in there Cassian?” Jyn asked the man.

 

“No, I didn’t think so, not at first, but then I was doing the same thing as you.  I was watching the man’s reactions.  What struck me, was that he seemed to genuinely believe what he was saying in there.  That’s what troubles me; he seems as if he was genuinely confused.  If what he was saying is right, I don’t think much of Designation (Former): Captain America’s leadership skills.  He seems to think a lot of withholding potentially vital information.  On the one hand, I can understand this on Designation (Former): Captain America’s inclination, he didn’t expect for anyone to be more useful to him, but talk about cold on the part of the man.” Cassian mused, sharing his thoughts, with the two what he had managed to glean from the interview he had just stood threateningly in.

 

“Interesting, we can’t both agree on what may or may not have happened, but the one thing we can agree on is that is pretty unlikely that the guy knows anything.  Eugh, this is such a mess, I've got to tell you, I don’t trust that this guy knew enough to make it worth our while.  Cassian do you have anymore more ideas on how we can go about this next part?  Anything that you can think of that we may have overlooked Jyn?  Now don’t be shy, it’s an all hands on deck type situation, we have on our hands here!” Dacia goaded her two friends into speaking.

 

“No, but if we interview Designation: Hawkeye, it’s possible that he might know more about this problem.  Or at the very least he might know more about what was diving Designation (Former): Captain America’s intentions.  At one stage he might have been part of the guy’s inner circle.  It’s a bit of a long shot, but we might be able to find something else if we simply find the right questions to ask.” Jyn told the two thoughtfully.

 

“You’re right, at one stage he might have been part of Designation (Former): Captain America inner circle.  They did after all have the same former employer, do you think he might have had some inclination on what the guy was thinking or on what his end goals were.” Dacia allowed the man, nodding her head in answer.

 

“Okay, well at one point they shared the same employer, can we point out any instances where the two of them may have shared missions separate from the Avengers?  Don’t forget that the guy stepped back from the Avengers after the Sokovia mess, so anything he could give us might (and probably) is outdated.” Cassian pointed out, not willing to want for the girls to begin building their hopes up to something, that may simply be a longshot.

 

“At this point, it’s the only chance we’ve got.  Jyn have you gotten any further in scrubbing that video?  The first one I mean?” Dacia sighed.

 

“Yes, I have, but as per always, there are plusses and minuses to the whole thing.  We can’t be sure whether or not Designation (Former): Captain America shared that intel with anyone else.  Until we can interview Designation: Falcon, we won’t know if he ever shared with him.  When will we be interviewing him again?” Jyn angrily summarised for the other two.

 

“We still have a few more to do before we get to him.  I figured that I could set up in order of the people who may or may not have been taken into the man’s inner circle.  Though, I imagine that it will be fairly unlikely that we can get any answers until we can question the man himself.” Dacia told the man, having glanced down at her notes.

 

“It is still up in the air, as to whether or not we can trust anything that the man gives us.  You’ve been how compartmentalised the man seems to operate; everything is kept on a strictly need to know basis.  And right now, it doesn’t seem as if we need to know.” Jyn sighed, still not sure how she should go about the next few days.

 

Saw Guerra hadn’t spared much time ensuring that the woman knew proper interrogation methods.  Or at least the ones that he had thought to impart, where either outright illegal or _very_ unethical, with the _highly_ suspect operating procedure.  Jyn was aware that Cassian seemed to have it in his head that Jyn was a frightened lamb, and who was she to show his beliefs to be false.  Cassian might have worked within the Resistance, but he wasn’t completely familiar with some of the underhanded methods that Jyn reckoned worked quite well for her.

 

Jyn didn’t like having to tap into those lessons, not while she had any other option, another choice, because if there was one thing that she was sure off, it was that there was usually a choice.  At least that was what Dacia was fond of protesting, was that there was always a choice.  Jyn wasn’t sure if she had ever been able to say that there would always be a choice, she tended to walk on a bit of a darker path in life too often for her to be comfortable pretending that everything was black and white.  It might be a depressing thing for her to admit that was comfortable walking in shades of grey.  She felt that Cassian was more likely to understand this unique facet of her personality.  She wasn’t comfortable getting into it with the man; she wasn’t sure how easy it would be for her to tell the man some of what she was already working with.  Her demons were her own; they weren’t the man’s, nobody else could deal with them but her.

 

“Do you think there will chance that we manage to apprehend Designation: Black Widow anytime, she would probably know more about what was going through the man’s head.  At least, if she is as good at her job as she likes to think, somehow I don’t think she’s that good.” Cassian started in frustration.

 

“How do you mean Cassian?” Dacia asked prodding the man for further answered.

 

“Well, from reading some of the, for want of a better term, the lore surrounding the infamous Black Widow spies, we know that they were exceptionally good at their jobs and feared by adversaries.  What if Romanova spent too much believing in her hype to realise that a muscle that isn’t used, or challenged it can atrophy.  My analogy got away from me a bit there, sorry about that.  But I’d need to look more at how Romanova came onto S.H.I.E.L.Ds’ radar, though dollars to doughnuts I’m going to guess that there might have been something more going on beneath the surface.  We’ve read portions from her observation of Dr Stark, back where they first met, the results of that analysis were seriously flawed.”

 

“Okay, well we can work with this right?  Jyn are you closer to pulling the noose around Designation: Black Widow’s hiding place?” Dacia asked, turning to face Jyn.

 

“Not a lot of luck so far, I have managed to drop some listening programs on various spy agencies across the world.  I have managed to get into contact with some European Agencies, which should tell you that some suspicions are that the woman could be found in Europe.  Though I would like the caution you that I can’t say with any degree of certainty where the woman is.  I have been working with them to find her, which I can say with utmost certainty that we will find her.  I don’t give up easily.” Jyn told the two with a funny look on her face.

 

“Oh dear, this has become personal to you hasn’t?” Cassian laughed.

 

“Afraid so.  You know as well as I do that quitting isn’t in my repertoire, at least not while Saw was around to oversee me growing up.  I mean for pities sake if I was able to just throw in the towel from time to time, I very likely wouldn’t have made it this far.” Jyn joked back, with a thunderous look on her face.

 

“No, no, that’s fine, but for now I think we need to be aware that we will still have a lot of work to do.  For now, though, we need to get on with the rest of the interviews.  Who is taking Designation: Hawkeye?” Cassian laughed, his mood turning quickly serious as he turned to face Dacia.

 

“Well, I’ve met him before as Darcy, and perhaps for myself, I want to know whether or not he remembers me.” Dacia frowned.

 

“You know that’s it’s fairly unlikely that he remember you?  He might just remember who his targets were, if you kept yourself to the sidelines as much as you’ve told us, he might not have spared you much of a second glance.” Cassian gently reminded the woman.

 

“Call it professional curiosity, if you will, but I want to know if someone suspected me of being capable of more than I let on!  We might have received information from Hill that they didn’t suspect me, something which pleases me, but at the same time disappoints me.  I’m left to believe that it was no wonder that HYDRA had a foothold in S.H.I.E.L.D if they didn’t recognise when the wool was being pulled over their eyes!” Dacia protested.

 

“Very well, but don’t forget that you are _very good_ at what you do.  We all worked together to make that identity watertight; they probably didn’t notice.  Do you want one of us in as security?” Cassian tried to reign in a rising temper.

 

“Yeah, it might hurt my deep in my feminist soul, but Cassian would you mind standing at the back, to at least provide the illusion of tightened security.  While I could probably take him down if I needed to, I don’t want to overplay our hand.  They might be on this spaceship, but for at least now, they will have no idea who we are and why we have them.” Dacia sighed, fidgeting with her hands as she spoke.

 

“Sure, will we go now?” Cassian nodded his head in assent.

 

“Certainly, I’ve got a feeling that this may take us longer than the Designation: Ant-Man interview, after you!” Dacia started for the exit to the room.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Both Cassian and Dacia were quiet as they made their way through the corridors of the spaceship, both were lost in their thoughts as they wrestled with getting their thoughts together on which questions they wanted to ask.  Neither of them was concerned that the man would be able to hide anything, they both knew how to ask the right questions and trip the man up, to the point where they would only need to worry about the man wasting their time.  Dacia for one was aware that it would be all too easy for her to torture the man, but she didn’t think that she would get particularly trustworthy answers from the man.  Glancing briefly at Cassian, she felt a sudden surge of relief flowing through her, knowing that the man would at least have her back and would be able to spot anything that Dacia had missed.

 

“You ready for this?” Cassian asked, his voice cutting through the silence like a bullet.

 

“Are we ever truly ready for what we have to do?” Dacia rhetorically asked.

 

“Fair enough, but you know what you have to ask him right?  We might not have a lot of opportunities if we screw this up after all.  We can always question him again, but the one thing that we can’t get back is the element of surprise.” Cassian reasoned in a calm tone of voice.

 

“Yeah, I will be ready, I know what to ask him, and even if he does no verbally tell us what we need to know, his body language might just give us a hint of what is happening.  At the very least though, we need be able to get to the bottom of things and try to understand what may have been driving at Designation (Former): Captain America.  Even if he can’t tell us that, he might be able to give us some indication of why he came out of retirement.”

 

“You know, I doubt that he was ever truly retired.  Take it from a spy, and an assassin all rolled into one but what I can tell you, is that it would take trauma to step back.  What I mean is that it could take something massive to make him step back.  The guy took a _very big risk_ in coming out and taking Designation: Scarlet Witch from the Compound.  There is something about how this guy operated that doesn’t strike me as a right; we need to get to the bottom of this, it doesn’t all add up to me.” Cassian grumbled.

 

“I have heard this theory before, but right now we have a chance to play around with your theory.  We need to work this man over, now come on, I don’t want to waste this chance.” Dacia laughed before she hurried away from the man.

 

Looking back over her shoulder at the man, Dacia momentarily waited for the man to catch up with her before entering into the prison cells.  Nodding to one another briefly, they both pulled up their cloaks, wanting to make sure that they at least prested a united front.

 

As one, the two of them entered the room together, and without even having to glance at each other, they knew what they had come here to do.  Cassian glanced over at the cell that contained Designation: Ant-Man and had to hide an eye roll.  He wasn’t sure whether or not he could claim to feel any guilt or sympathy for the man, because whoever went out to fight without understanding what they were fighting (and potentially dying) for?! 

 

Looking down at the computer in front of him, Cassian briefly glanced at the keys in front of him; he sometimes felt like he had zoned out when he was deep in thought.  Looking over to where Dacia was slowly making her way over to Designation: Hawkeye’s cell, he frowned in confusion when he noticed the woman slowing down her steps.

 

Dacia looked briefly into the cell, where she could easily see the agitated man pacing back and forth.  Realising that she wouldn’t even be able to use her surprise appearance against the guy, she could see that the man had seen her.  Faltering in her steps, Dacia thought to herself quickly.  She knew that she would get that best chance to nail this guy against the wall if Cassian went in to get the guy.  He at least would be able to use his bulk to surprise the man and take him out to the interview room.

 

Making her way over to Cassian, she gestured the man to lean down and quietly whispered in his ears.

 

“He’s agitated in there; it might be better if you grab him and we can walk him down to the ~~interrogation~~ interview room.”

 

Cassian paused and looked at Dacia, considering her carefully before choosing which action he should take next.  Nodding his head once, he smoothly made his way over to the correct cell.  Glancing over his shoulder at Dacia, he checked that she was still standing in his previous spot over by the central computer console.  Side-stepping a little so that he could reach the small panel alongside the cell doors.  Flicking through the functions, he listened for the telltale clicking of the locks.  When he heard the noise of the other doors clicking shut, he manipulated the lock to Designation: Hawkeye’s doors.  Flicking the digital toggle over to open, Cassian shifted his weight from one foot to another, when he saw the word OPEN printed, he stepped in front of the door, wanting to block the exit with his body.  He didn’t want to see what would happen if Designation: Hawkeye should decide to bum rush him.

 

Stepping through the door to the cell, Cassian wrenched the man’s wrists behind his back and cuffed them together.  Feeling like he looked as if he was frog-marching the guy from the small cell.  Nodding over to Dacia as he passed her, she nodded and peeled away from her spot standing at the computer.  The trio must have made a strange sight as they made their way through the spaceship, Dacia glanced up at one of the security cameras swivelling round to face the small group, she smirked a little wondering if Jyn was also being amused watching them.

 

Dacia wondered idly to herself if Designation: Hawkeye realised that no one was listening to his inane threats.  Dacia had to roll her eyes at some of the threats; she wasn’t even sure how they were possible, never mind that the guy was currently tied up.  Even if he weren’t, Dacia was sure that a few of them would be difficult to perform.  Never mind how unsanitary they could be!  Dacia wasn’t sure if she should feel like she had to hide the eye rolls, she might not be looking at Cassian, but she knew that the guy was probably also struggling to hide his eye rolling.

 

Yanked from her thoughts, with a slightly violent twinge, Dacia realised that they had arrived at the small room which she hoped that she wouldn’t have to spend any longer than completely necessary.  Making her way through the sliding door after Cassian and Designation: Hawkeye, she idly watched as the Cassian securely cuffed the man to the desk.

 

When Cassian felt like he could be comfortable enough with how tightly fastened he had the man, secured from both his ankles and wrists, he nodded at Dacia.  She peered back at the man and stepped forward to take her seat in the metallic seat opposite the man.  Folding her hands together on the table in front of her, Dacia looked at the man, trying to get the measure of him before she spoke to him.  Dacia wanted to build up the pressure and possibly throw the man from his comfort zone.  Choosing to put the man out of his misery she began to speak in a low and measured tone.

 

“So, tell me Designation: Hawkeye, this situation arose when you were lifted from the R.A.F.T prison, just so we can get this interview off to the most productive start, can you tell me that you know why you are here?” Dacia started, peering across at the man.

 

“No, what the hell is going on here?  This is all Stark’s fault!  I wouldn’t be in this situation if that guy didn't decide to get involved with something that he didn’t understand.  It was none of his business; he didn’t have to do any of this!” Designation: Hawkeye started to protest.

 

His words inspired a snort from Cassian; he could easily see an irony in the man protesting that someone else did not understand something.  It was mildly amusing that the man, who had walked out of safety and retirement to fight in a situation that didn’t need to bother him at all.

 

“That is funny that you should say that.  After all, you didn’t need to get involved, you were supposed to be retired, so forgive me for the stupid question; but how was the Accords going to affect you?  You had stepped back from the Avengers after the Sokovia disaster, so you weren’t likely to have to use your abilities, at least not unless you were planning to march into another country.  You weren’t were you?” Dacia lightly asked.

 

“No!  Of course, not, but I got the call from Steve that Stark was keeping Wanda captive in the Compound.  I had to go in and rescue her; she is just a kid!” Designation: Hawkeye cried out confused.

 

“Sir, Ms Maximoff is not a kid, she is in her early twenties, on what planet does that make her a kid!  But we will go into her background, or at least what we know about it later, first we have to understand what led you to get involved.” Dacia shot back, not even bothering to look up.

 

Cassian, however, felt like he had to wonder what exactly was going through the man’s head.  He wondered briefly if the man was aware of how much he was beginning to sound like a broken record.  He wondered idly to himself whether or not he should begin to feel concerned for the man’s sanity.  Deciding to himself that he would prefer to simply listen to the man, he shifted his weight and continued to listen to the man.

 

“Okay, going back a little, can you please explain to us what happened to you when S.H.I.E.L.D?  Where you called in then?  Where were you when those Helicarriers came down in the Potomac?”

 

“I heard later that S.H.I.E.L.D had been infiltrated by HYDRA, but I was on a simple milk run of a mission.  Even if they had called me in, I wouldn’t have been able to get back in time to help them.  I still don’t completely understand why Nat had to dump all of those files; it put so many people in danger, it put me in danger!” Designation: Hawkeye protested, only becoming stymied when he couldn’t cross his arms due to the cuffs around his wrists.

 

“Okay, but what makes you decide that your life is more important than others.  Do you know if a lot of agents exposed were HYDRA members?” Dacia rhetorically asked before she held up a hand before she continued “I’ll tell you there was less than a third who were HYDRA.  But do you know how many lost their lives due to that quite frankly immature and irresponsible action cost the agents?  That, of course, is regardless of where their loyalties.  But maybe you figure that the only good HYDRA agent is a dead HYDRA agent?  I don’t entirely disagree with this thinking; goodness knows that I have done this thinking before in the past, I didn’t particularly enjoy it.  I will share with you that about fifty-five percent of agents, were killed.  Do you by any chance support the actions of the woman?”

 

“No, but that’s got to be a mistake, why would it have been labelled as an infestation if they were that few among the numbers who were HYDRA agents.  Nat is supposed to be so good at everything why would she make such an amateur mistake?”

 

“We can’t begin to fathom her actions, I don’t think that anyone can, and any chance that we might have had to understand her actions were well and truly scuppered when she arrogantly told Congress to take a hike.  She told them that she was too good, too indispensable to be arrested.  Now, I’ve got to say we faced that arrogance in our Home Universe because we aren’t from here you know, but to get back to my point and to cut a long story short it wasn’t good.  Do you know that a lot or even any of the forty-five percent were saved?  Or did you keep yourself separate from those in S.H.I.E.L.D. who weren’t Avengers?  Who you saw as below you because they hadn’t attained that level?”

 

“That sounds like not a lot was saved, are you sure about that number?  But I’m sure that you are going to tell me some lies about how those people were saved.  The members of S.H.I.E.L.D never forgave me for my actions on the Helicarrier, even though I was brainwashed.  They would have sooner added more petrol to my body if I was on fire, rather than help me because they could only see it as my hands had killed their friends and partners on that Helicarrier.” Designation: Hawkeye asked, beginning to affect a confused look.

 

“That’s right; I am going to tell you, it was Dr Stark and his efforts that saved so many agents.  You can, of course, argue that he still lost too many, I’m not going to stop you from arguing this.  I do wonder though why Dr. Stark wasn’t called in?  Hadn’t Dr Stark stepped in to stop it from becoming too uncomfortable and dangerous for you, giving you home until you could trust yourself enough to go home?  Not that you told him where that home was.  But anyway she didn’t just release files of the agents, but rather everything, this includes medical information, current whereabouts, possible extraction plans, also information about families.  She also released sensitive information such as the current living arrangements of some of those who were in witness protection programmes, due to S.H.I.E.L.D. involvement and activities.  But hey that was skin off her nose, she could protect herself, right?  What was more, was that very little, if anything, was filtered, everything was leaked.  If she had called in Dr Stark, from the get-go, then so much information could have been saved.  I still wonder why she didn’t call him in.”

 

“She told me later that she didn’t know who she could trust.  I’m speaking hyperbolically here, but that her faith in the organisation that she had worked for after she had defected, she didn’t want to reach out to a bad actor so to speak.  I’m not sure what made her decide to make that call, Stark until that point had been a solid allie, he wouldn’t have betrayed us _THEN_ without good reason.”

 

“But why did she feel like she couldn’t trust Dr Stark, they fought together, as you did during New York, did she tell you why she felt like she couldn’t trust him?”

 

“She told me that she didn’t feel as if she could trust the man, based on his initial report.”

 

“You realise that she wrote the report?  It was a flawed report, she went in with preconceived notions, ready to judge the man.  I’m not sure how you would term that in intelligence circles, but on an investigatory basis, that’s a bad thing.  She wasn’t going with an open mind, so anything that she saw about the man, she was going to make sure that it backed up her previously held judgements.  Furthermore, she went in while S.H.I.E.L.D. knew that he was dying, so anything that she observed would not have shown the man in a normal mind frame.  He was dying, and normally when people are dying, they tend to act out a bit.  So, I’ll ask you again did the woman have any reason for her not to trust and reach out to Dr Stark?”

 

“Look, you didn’t hear it from me, but Nat wasn’t acting like her usual cold self whenever I had a chance to interact with her.  Look, we both know that I love the woman like a sister, but she frustrates me a lot sometimes.  Especially with some of her typical lines such as ‘love belongs to children’ I don’t agree with her there.  She sounded like a damaged mark when she said that, it sounded as if it ripped from something she forced herself to believe, rather than actually wanted to believe.”

 

“You mean that you suspect that the woman could have had something going on with someone?  I will tell you some of what we suspect about the woman, shall I?” Dacia lightly asked.

 

“Hell, I gave up trying to understand that woman years ago.  Be my guest.” Designation: Hawkeye tried to gesture to Dacia to continue.

 

“Have you ever heard the phrase ‘the lady doth protest’?  I’m sure I’m butchering that phrase, there are probably English Literature students out there crying over my words.  See, what we think is that the woman was beginning to feel something for Rogers, she allowed that to manifest into a blindside.  She didn’t know what to do with the new emotions that grew up within her towards the man, so she listened to him, and she put his judgement and orders before hers.  We can’t even pretend that the woman’s judgement was completely sound if you are confused to think back on some of what we said.”

 

“But she always said that love was for children.  She couldn’t have felt anything for the guy, at least not anything romantic.  How can you even say that about the woman?” Designation: Hawkeye shot back starting to sound like a broken record.

 

“We don’t think a lot of someones that gets themselves into situations where they begin to question their every move, simply because they fall for a pair of baby blue eyes.  We’ve seen that and it leads to a dark place, we have no desire to go back to that place.  Heck, I was almost in that very position myself!  So, did she share with you any intel about what she may have found during that time?”

 

“No, that woman is like a closed book, if she doesn’t want to you to know something, you can bet your sweet ass that you won’t find out about it.  At least not easily, everything with her is like pulling teeth.  Why do you ask?” Designation: Hawkeye shifted as much in his seat as he could uncomfortably.

 

“Some of the things set in motion at just that time may have had a considerable amount of impact to some of the things that still bother us today.  We’ll talk more about that later, right not it’s not the most pressing concern.  At least, not right at this second it isn’t.  She didn’t tell you anything more about what she found; she wants to attempt to clear up how much she knew.  We also need to know more about the potential motives of Rogers, after all, we can get any answers until we can question the man himself.” Dacia told the man, having glanced down at her notes.

 

“What do you mean, what happened to Stark, he was fine when we last saw him.  What do you mean?  TELL ME WHAT YOU MEAN BY THAT!”

 

“Oh, nothing but that guy hasn’t woken up yet from whatever your pal, your friend Rogers decided to do to the guy.  Right now though I want to ask you more about why you didn’t simply stay retired after Sokovia.  What happened to you to make you go against your better judgement.  As far as we can tell you didn’t know Maximoff before then, or maybe you did across the field of battle, care to shed a little light on that?”

 

“I already told you everything you asked, why are you still so fascinated with that girl!?”

 

“Look, I’ll tell you some of what we suspect about the Witch.  We suspect that woman has her powers under better control than she lets on.  See, right now we’re concerned that she may have had her hands in your head.  After all, you can’t even become a top operator for HYDRA unless you were particularly psychopathic and an expert at using your own unique skill set.  So, tell me at what point did you decide that Dr Stark was a bad guy?  I’ve got to tell you, that doesn’t seem to add up with some of what we know about how you saw the guy before you decided to retire you seemed to be on good terms.  After all, the two of you seemed like you were friends.  So what we don’t understand I guess is how you thought of the man changed so drastically?”

 

“It isn’t something that I can easily put the finger on, but all that I can remember was that after ULTRON I was messed up in the head, I had seen what had become of us.  I couldn’t forgive Stark for creating that thing.  He had cost that country; he had obliterated a city from the map, how was I supposed to trust him again?”

 

“Except in your service with S.H.I.E.L.D. and earlier with the army, you had done so much worse, hadn’t you?  Not that I’m saying that ULTRON was excusable because it wasn’t, but it wasn’t his fault, not entirely.   At least not entirely, there was a whole internal review, and the review and audit found some interesting things.  It was also the work of the Scarlet Witch having played with his mind.  I have gone through some of the records of that period and found that the man had tried to tell you guys that, but as per usual you didn’t, maybe we can’t blame you, after all, you were supposed to be away from the Avengers.”

 

“Stark was never hit by Wanda’s powers, she got everyone but the two of us in South Africa, when would she have even found an opening to attack the man?”

 

“Sokovia and in case you think I’m lying the recordings from the suit told us, but more importantly the numerous inquests of his actions showed this.  You see when the man entered the castle he was away from all of you; he left the relative safety of his suit.  When he was in there, I can tell you that the suit and JARVIS were able to monitor his brainwaves.  What Dr Stark had written off as a vision or another PTSD laden panic attack, but Scarlet Witch had played into his fears.  He was given a vision of all of you guys dead, and with his lasts words the supposedly righteous Captain America blamed him.”

 

“He never told us that, why didn’t he tell us that?”

 

“I’m just assuming here, but I’m going to guess that he knew that you guys wouldn’t have listened to him.  You were already dismissive of his panic attacks and when he spoke to you about what he saw on the other side of that wormhole.  What reason would he have to believe that you would listen to him about this?  He studied the Sceptre fulling intending to send it off to Thor the next day; the ULTRON programme had already been shelved.  But when you lot decided that playing with Thor’s hammer was a marvellous idea, ULTRON was in a sense born.  During this time, JARVIS, which was Dr Stark’s finest, most encompassing AI, which he also thought of like a mix between his son and butler and modelled after a father figure, was the first casualty.  JARVIS was killed trying to stop the ULTRON program from taking over.  You never even tried to empathise with the guy, after did you?”

 

“No, I didn’t, but JARVIS was nothing more than a computer program.  Yes, he was good at what he did, but we never saw anything to suggest that the guy thought anything more about that programme, would it even have mattered whether or not we asked him after.  The guy was also a closed book; we never knew if he was lying to us or even telling us everything.  He could be boasting about some of what useless rubbish his company had managed to do and at the same time could be telling absolutely nothing at all.”

 

“Okay, well some of your points were exceptionally far off the mark, but I would still like to thank you for talking to me.  Another thing we want you to think about is how far you were willing to go to for Scarlet Witch.  After all, there’s a lot of people in the world that are pissed off with the Avengers but what about her made you decided to go against the man you had once been?  Was she spreading her legs for you?  Because newsflash, she is no innocent and has killed a lot of people over her short time on Earth, in particular during her service to HYDRA.  An organisation which she joined of her own free will and was already a good operative of before she received the experimentation that allowed her to unlock her powers.  Just as a matter of interest, do you recognise me?” Dacia asked politely peering over at the man.

 

“Not really, have we met?” Designation: Hawkeye looked confused by the sudden change in topic.

 

“That’s disappointing, we met back when Thor initially crashed down.  Maybe you remember me as Darcy Lewis, Dr Foster’s spacy intern?” Dacia prodded for answers, knowing that she would want to take any answers she could get.

 

“I remember the name, but you weren’t considered completely important or even relevant back then.” Designation: Hawkeye tried to apologise.

 

“That’s fine, turns out that you aren’t as good at your former job as you thought you were.  Disappointing.  Oh well, up you get.” Dacia gestured to the man to get up.

 

Taking his wrists, she locked them behind his wrist and gently led the man back to his cell.  Dacia knew that at this point, Designation: Hawkeye would have plenty of time to think to himself about some of what he had learned and she wanted to make sure that she didn’t overload him with too much information.

 

Walking the man back to the cell’s was a quiet walk.  Dacia glanced at the man and knew that he probably felt like his mind was swimming with all of the information that he had been told.  Maybe now the man would definitely be able to see the ‘light’ so to speak and begin to think for himself again.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

When he made his way into the small room that he now had the feeling he could call BS on the whole purpose he was out here.  He was now able to guess beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Scott had been in one of the interviews the day before, and he had more than likely been told something that he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  Clint felt like he had to wonder what exactly Scott had been told, judging by some of what he had been told had been hard to believe.  What’s more is Clint had been there for some of it, he had to question how good his eyesight was if he had missed some of the things that should have been so clear.

 

Clint had to wonder what had gone on after he had left the Avengers, what the hell had happened there.  Clint also thought of his young family back home, could he look them in the eyes and teach them to be polite, to say please and thank you, if he had indeed forgotten to do that himself?  He didn’t understand what had possessed him to think it was a good idea to leave them behind.  He was supposed to be out of this life, wasn’t he?

 

Looking over at a panicked Steve’s cell, the man was constantly bleating questions before Clint lost his temper.

 

“What the hell are we doing here?  Who gave you the bright idea to get us all involved in your mess?  Why did _I_ come out, when I was out?  WHAT DID YOU DO TO STARK?  WHAT DID YOU DO TO THIS TEAM?”

 

Clint watched as the man opened his mouth as if he was ready to say something to defend himself.  He also watched as the man closed his mouth, unable to find anything to say.

 

“You disgust me, hell I disappoint myself” Clint whispered before turning from the glass cell door.  He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know if Rogers had caught what he had said, but he knew that he couldn’t look at the man for much longer without becoming sick to his stomach.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conspiracy time, interview with a Witch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always forget to mention it but my tumblr is @LittleRoma, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to get this chapter up this week, mostly because my cat sadly died during the snow two weeks ago, but we only found out on Saturday.

Jyn flicked her fingers over the screen in front of her; she still wasn’t sure if what she had heard in this interview was in any way accurate.  Pulling up some of the background information, she set to work on attempting to corroborate some of the claims that Designation: Hawkeye had set forward.  If there was one thing that Jyn shared with Dacia, it was a belief that it was good to try and scare up more than one source.  She thought, in the case of Dacia, that it was a byproduct of her Jedi training, then later from some of her studying while she was masquerading as Darcy Lewis.

 

Entering into a bit of a fugue state while she tried her hardest to get answers for some of the things that were bothering her.  There were some things she felt weren’t sticking well with her, but she couldn’t even say that she knew what it was that was bothering her, all she knew was that there was something there that was giving her pause.  Frowning when she found some areas that looked as if there were going to take a longer time for her to confirm, in saying so, she jumped a little when Cassian and Dacia made their way into the room.

 

“So did that make either of you two want to scream?  Some of what that guy was saying was borderline hard to believe, why would he would he even believe some of those things?” Cassian grumpily asked storming into the room.

 

“Yeah, he seems more than a little confused about some of the things he was saying.  What I’m struggling with is the idea that he signed up for something that he wasn’t completely clear on what he agreed to, it boggles my mind.  It’s doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to do, certainly not when signing up for a new phone contract, never mind going out to fight in a situation that you don’t understand very much about what you are potentially signing your life and soul away for.  Is there any way that this would make any sense?” Dacia nodded her head in assent to what the man was saying.

 

“That it doesn’t sound like it would make a lot of sense.  But some of what the guy was saying didn’t make a lot of sense to me, so I emailed Ms Hill, I wanted to try and see if there was anything in the guy’s background that would make his actions any more explicable and while I wasn’t able to find anything.  At least nothing that immediately jumps out, but Ms Hill was able to give us a small bit of something.  She told us that the guy was not known for his intellectual abilities.  I wasn’t able to work out if the woman felt bitter over a slight, but it seems to check out, what she is saying I mean.” Jyn answered the two, gesturing at the computer screen.

 

“Okay, well based on that I can’t see that as having changed.  It doesn’t seem like something that has changed greatly over the years.  It doesn’t seem to have gotten into the man’s head to start trying to think things through.  We might end up having to put a pin in these thoughts, not while we have to start interviewing Designation: Scarlet Witch.  Is there anything that they wanted us to bring up in regards to this situation?  The last thing we need is to go into an interview with her and not have some form of questioning that we want to begin softening our way.” Dacia allowed the two in front of her.

 

“That is fair enough, but for now we need to know if there was something that we should be aware of, Jyn did they at least give you some questions that they could initially ask, even some way in which we should point our questions? Cassian asked the two, running a hand through his hair.

 

“Yeah, they wanted to know if we could scare up some information on how the woman got her powers, or even some of her background before she decided that joining with HYDRA was a splendid idea.  Though something tells me that it will be difficult for us to get any and everything we need from the woman, or at least it would be easier getting blood from a stone than it would be getting answers.” Jyn spoke confidently, having looked down at some of the notes she had had open on the screen in front of her.

 

“For right now, we need to more concerned with who goes in to talk with her.  We need to be smart about this.” Cassian sighed.

 

“Right, I’ve been thinking about that, and it would make more sense if Jyn were to talk to her.  We should send in Jyn to ask questions because maybe she will be able to get past the woman’s guard.  I am happy to stand at the back; I am sorry Cassian, but I don’t trust that the woman wouldn’t try to reach for her powers.  From what we have seen, I would be the only one that can take her down, even temporarily, without causing lasting harm to her.” Dacia told the two.

 

Cassian could only nod his head at the woman, briefly shaking his head to show that he wasn’t offended.

 

“That’s fine; we don’t need to start begging for trouble before we are ready to deal with it.  Is there any point where we can begin asking questions.” Cassian calmly told the woman.

 

“Right you are, we need to ask the obvious questions, such as does she understand the predicament that she has found herself in.  We should try and get further on her background because even if we can’t find an answer, we might be able to gather more hints, maybe something she accidentally lets slip.” Dacia spoke, grumpy with some of the things that she had been told.

 

Dacia ran a hand through her hair, still finding the situation going forward to be remarkably challenging to deal with.  Peering down at her hands momentarily and wondering what she would like to tackle next.  Jyn broke the silence for the trio and began to speak.

 

“While I was waiting for you guys to show up, I was able to look further into the current situation in the State Department, would you like to know what I found out?” Jyn spoke, while the other two to nod their head in assent.

 

“I was able to find that the former security of State was called Elizabeth McCord, I already told you that, yes?  She worked at the CIA, and I haven’t been able to find a lot of details on her earlier career, but that is a power of the course for a spy agency like the Central Intelligence Bureau, so I’m not _too_ concerned.  At least not with my inability to find anything, I’m reluctant to try a deep dive into the agency, my theory was that I don’t want to attract undue attention towards us and our motives.  I was able to find that McCord worked with President Dalton, while the two still worked at the CIA.  He brought McCord in to replace the previous Secretary of State when he mysteriously died.”

 

“When McCord first started working at the State Department, some of the other senior Staffers weren’t sure if they could trust her.  I’m not 100% sure of what exactly happened there, but after a while, the woman was able to gain their trust.  Her Chief of Staff then was called Nadine Tolliver, who has since left the Department for different pastures.  Her most recent Chief of Staff was called Jay Whitman, some of the staffers who worked under the woman.  As far as I can tell Whitman still works at the department, but as I’m sure you can guess, the guy is under near-constant scrutiny.”

 

“Right, but that doesn’t mean anything for us.  Yeah, it sounds strange, and it’s something that we would want to investigate, but we can’t spare any extra time on it, at least not when we have other things we need to focus on.  Does this lead anywhere Jyn? Dacia prompted, wanting to get her friend back on track.

 

“See, I thought so too, and I spent a little more time on it, simply because I wasn’t sure where it would ultimately lead.  I mean we do have bigger concerns, but as always something was drawing me in, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.  At least not until I came across this.” Jyn tried to explain.

 

Pinching her two fingers together, she enlarged on the files in front of her and flicked it up to display on the big screen in front of her.  Looking briefly at her friend's faces, she huffed when she could see that the two weren’t getting as excited as she would like.  Deciding that it would perhaps be better if she could explain to the two of them what exactly had attracted her attention.

 

Certainly less time-consuming.

 

“You see what I found was that President Dalton was diagnosed as having lived with Meningioma, a brain tumour that was pressing on the frontal lobe of his brain.  These types of tumours can impair the executive function of the brain, affecting things such as the judgement, decision-making abilities and lowering inhibitions while they are dealt with.”

 

“Right, but what’s that got to do anything we’re dealing with?” Cassian asked, already becoming impatient to get the answers that he wanted.

 

“I’m getting to that; it doesn’t seem like it would affect us on the surface, but I looked even closer.  Dalton recently threatened war against Russia, something which could be indicative of the type of significant personality change, with typically excessive displays of emotions.” Jyn continued to explain, looking even more animated in what she was saying.

 

“The point Jyn, THE POINT WOMAN!” Cassian roared, already becoming fed up with the woman’s waffling.

 

“Right, I have one of those.  The point is that the cabinet invoked the 25th Amendment, and President Dalton was left with a choice of either stepping aside to have his issue, at this point they didn’t know about a tumour, or to see his name being dragged through the courts.  It was up to his Vice President Theresa Hurst to effectively hold down the fort while the guy was medically treated.  From here it gets a bit murky, but what I have been able to piece together is that Hurst was thinking (and making definite motions) towards making a run for the presidency when Dalton’s time is up.  What I’ve been able to work out is that while the man wasn’t there, Hurst was able to outmanoeuvre McCord, and oust her from the State Department.  This served two purposes; she was able to weaken the other’s woman’s position, don’t forget that McCord was in no way a politician, a bit of fools mission personally speaking.  And it was suspected that McCord was looking at making a run for the presidency, Hurst didn’t want to have to fight off the woman that was polling a lot better than she was.  She was able to get into the now vacant position a face from her past, General Ross.  I can’t work out why she wanted Ross, in particular; maybe it was an old debt or something?” Jyn got more and more animated as she told her story.

 

“Right, that’s interesting but does McCord have many supporters left the State Department?  Because that’s where it would start to concern us right?” Dacia tried to hurry up the woman, still not sure if she was amused by how Jyn was getting on.

 

“I knew you were going to ask that, so I did a little digging.  When McCord was still there, she was surrounded by staffers; Daisy Grant, Matt Mahoney, Kat Sandoval and her assistant Blake Moran along with Jay Whitman.  Those staffers are all still there, but in a diminished capacity, I suppose it was recognised that General Ross might not have been able to function – it would probably have been something completely different from what he was used to doing.  From what I have been able to tell, those people have been working from within to bring down General Ross.  As soon as Dr Stark wakes up, he might be able to put the final nail in the man’s coffin so to speak.  Have we heard anything more about the guy?  What’s is his prognosis?” Jyn finished by peering over at Dacia.

 

“I have been listening to some of what they’re comfortable telling us, which understandably isn’t a lot.  It’s easier to say now that it looks as if the guy’s vitals are starting to level out.  It just concerns me that so far, he hasn’t woken up.  Jyn is there anything that you could think of which might impact this might have on his physical health.” Dacia explained, crossing her arms over her chest as she thought through some of the issues that they were likely to face.

 

“I’m not a licenced medical practitioner, at least not in this universe.  So all I can say is that you should trust the doctors and medical staff surrounding him.  You can bet that the Stark money would open up the doors to the best of the best.  For now, though, that’s all I feel comfortable speculating, at least not before I can look at his medical notes.” Jyn explained.

 

“Okay, that’s fascinating, truly that’s fascinating, but we need to get moving with some of the rest of the interviews.” Cassian tried to hide a yawn before he continued, “I can see why you may begin to become even slightly fascinated with the whole mess back in Washington DC, but that doesn’t completely affect us.  At least not now, can we focus on some of the questions we need to think about asking the questions that we need to be answered!”

 

“Right, you are, before we get started, do you guys have any questions that you definitively want to be answered?  I don’t need to point out to you guys that we only have one first interview at the woman; it’s more likely that we will be able to shock something out of the woman on the first time around.” Dacia pointed at the man, acknowledging Cassian’s point.

 

“No, I think that we are honestly better just going in and seeing what comes to mind.  If she manages to bring up something that we aren’t expecting, then surely it would be better than we don’t feel constrained by questions.  At least, not when we could be faced with a sudden windfall regarding unexplained and questions that we aren’t even aware that we should be thinking off.” Jyn thoughtfully told the two what was going through her head.

 

“Okay, Cassian, would you mind keeping an eye on us through the CCTV, we don’t want to miss anything, just in case we should miss anything?” Dacia spoke, looking over at Cassian.

 

She stood off slightly to the side and looked over at Jyn, waiting for the woman to follow her lead and make for the door.  Holding up her left arm briefly, she joking held it pointed towards, she carefully bowed in the direction of the woman.  Hearing Jyn laugh was all that she needed

 

“Come on, then joker, we need to talk to these people!” Jyn laughed, before skipping from the room.

 

Cassian looked up at the two women and shook his head briefly before returning his focus to the screens directly in front of him.  At least, some things would never change, and the two would always be inevitably laughing and joking with one another, at least when it wasn’t something more serious.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Jyn made her way from the room and briefly slowed in her steps long enough for the Jedi to catch up to her.  She suddenly paused in her steps and peered back down the corridor for the woman to catch up with her, tapping her foot up and down impatiently.  Not wanting to deal with any hurt feelings, Jyn smiled at the woman while she rolled her eyes at the woman.  Reaching up with one of her hands, she absently began to itch at one of her arms while she waited for the woman.

 

Looking over at the woman rapidly gaining step with, Jyn turned away from the woman and began to walk in step with her.  The two knew that what they were about to undertake was no doubt going to be very important.  At least as far as being able to understand some of how they should begin to move forward about the woman.  Hopefully, it would shine a light on the woman, and even though it was a remote possibility, it would shed more light on what kind of impact the woman was having on their emotions.  At the very least they were aware that they might only be able to get from the woman her name.

 

At the very least Jyn was prepared to be disappointed with what the woman came out with during the interview, but she was always aware that it was better for to go in with an open mind.  That way at least she wouldn’t be _too_ heinously disappointed with whatever it was that she learned.  Because wasn’t that the point of this whole shindig?  To get answers to the some of the questions that plagued them?  Or at the very least be able to fill in some of the blanks surrounding their questions?  No matter which way Jyn shook it, she was stuck with someone who believed in asking questions, so for now, at least she could pretend to understand where the woman was coming from.  She felt like it was a good thing to do a little digging and get the answers to some of the questions that she felt needed answering.

 

Taking a small breath in through her nose, Jyn peered at the woman beside her and opened her mouth to speak.

 

“Do you have any questions that you would like for me to press her on in there?”

 

“No, I honestly feel as if the woman might provide us with some answers if we don’t prod her for answers, at least, not until we can start to limit our scope.  In any case, I’m not sure if the woman won’t give us something to go on, at least not without playing mind games on us.” Dacia told the woman, walking alongside her.

 

“Ugh, when was the time when I thought it was only the Jedi who would be likely to play mind games with me again?”

 

“Yeah, there were some assholes in the Jedi Order, but I didn’t think that you would have been likely to run into any Jedis?” Dacia teased the woman, suddenly concerned that the woman would have had a run in with Darth Vader.

 

“Don’t worry I didn’t come across Vader’s radar, at least not beyond the whole Father connection.  It doesn’t strike me as something the guy would keep an eye on.  No doubt he found it too important to keep the universe still living in fear.  He had bigger things to be concerned about.” Jyn reassured the other woman,

 

“Ugh, point.  I came across the guy who I suspected later became Vader, well suspect is a weak term, I was able to work out that it was him.  While I still knew him as a Jedi, he was a sweet guy, so I’m honestly unable to work out exactly what happened to make the Dark Side seem like a reasonable place any rational being would want to be.  My point is that I don’t think you should joke about that, because if Vader had it out for you, then it could be a bad thing.” Dacia spilt in one of her trademarked spill of consciousness.

 

“Fair enough, but do you honestly think that anything could track us to this Universe?” Jyn worriedly asked as she stole a sidelong glance at her friend.

 

“No, I haven’t come across any indication to even hint at anyone being able to track us here.  I just wish that you wouldn’t belittle the threats that we did end up facing.  It makes them seems trite.” Dacia sighed.

 

“Okay, well we need to go and get started on the rest of our day here.  Ladies first, madame!” Jyn told the woman, laughing.

 

Jyn looked over at her friend Dacia and wondered if there was any particular reason that the woman had chosen to wear her robe today.  Feeling as if the nerves were ready to crawl up her throat, was this some sign that the woman felt as if she needed some way or method with which to hide her face.  It was times like this when Jyn wondered if the woman had some form of fore vision when it came to the future.  Normally Jyn wouldn’t even entertain the notion of anyone being privy to what could happen in the future.  Though she privately felt as if she couldn’t simply dismiss any of Dacia’s abilities, she had seen too much to write them off.

 

The two woman simply looked at one another, before nodding and entering the room.  As one they were able to peel off and start on their separate tasks, they had both worked on these tasks together and separately, at least to the point where they were both able to perform their tasks without having to rely on each other for help.

 

Dacia made her way towards the prison cell that contained Designation: Scarlet Witch, turning only briefly to peer back Jyn.  Jyn was stood beside the central computer and was efficiently keying through a few of the features; she made sure to manipulate the keys to the rest of the cell doors.  Jyn didn’t want for even the slightest chance of the prisoners to be able to escape.

 

Not on her watch in any case.

 

Nodding over at the other woman, Jyn silently watched as the woman stepped to the side and began to tap through the features on the wall mounted screen.  Jyn focused her eyes back on the door to Designation: Scarlet Witch’s cell, she wanted to make sure that that woman wouldn’t take any opportunity to make a grand escape.  Smirking a little, when she noted Dacia is making her way into the woman’s cell quickly.  Waiting for what she was sure was a split second, she saw the woman coming back out with her quarry safe in hand, she pressed a few of the buttons again and made sure that she locked the woman’s cell behind the two women.

 

Silently following the two from the cells, Jyn wondered how the two were going to continue moving on.  Finally, the odd grouping reached the small room where the interview room.  Dacia proceeded to make sure that Designation: Scarlet Witch was securely lashed to the table in the middle of the room before she nodded to a wary Jyn.  When Jyn saw that the woman had nodded at her, she carefully took an opposite seat to Designation: Scarlet Witch.  Glancing over her shoulder carefully to check what Dacia was doing, she saw that the woman had carefully stepped back with her hands resting on either side of her hips.

 

“So hello, Ms Maximoff, now before we get started on this interview, I want to know if you at present are relatively comfortable.” Jyn started with an easy question, knowing that her job was going to be _much_ easy if they could at least pretend to be cordial at the beginning.

 

“Yes, I don’t know why that would matter to you, but for all that it matters, for all that _you_ care, then yes I am comfortable.” Designation: Scarlet Witch looked slightly conflicted as she answers Jyn’s simple question.

 

“That’s good, now as to my second question, do you understand why you are here?” Jyn gently asked, not wanting to let her hand show this early.

 

“No doubt, it’s got something to do with that monster Stark right?  Everything wrong with this situation has got his disgusting fingerprints all over it.” Designation: Scarlet Witch spat, the venom clear in her tone.

 

“Well, why would you say that?  You broke the law, don’t you think that you should have paid the price for breaking the law?  You didn’t have to come out to fight if you hadn’t then you wouldn’t have been in this situation at all.  Can you explain to me why you got yourself involved?” Jyn tried to prod the situation back to the subject at hand.

 

“It is always Stark’s fault; it is _always_ that monster’s fault.  He took my parents and my brother from me; if it wasn’t for him, then I might still have my family.  WHAT POSSIBLE REASON WOULD YOU HAVE TO SAY THAT IT WOULD BE ANYONE ELSE’S FAULT!”

 

“I’m glad you started there because contrary to popular belief the weapons trade, on a small scale, share some similar attributes to trades that deal with designer goods.  By this, I mean that as was part and parcel if a company wanted to make a quick buck, they could simply paint on the S.I logo on the side of any weapon and make their enemy shit their pants in fear.  In the case of Sokovia, the weapon that killed your parents, it didn’t have anything to do Dr Stark. Instead, it was sold by one Obadiah Stane, a partner in Stark Industries, who among a great many illegalities, sold weapons under the table.  But I’m not completely sure if he even sold Stark Industries stock was fired at your family apartment, which claimed the lives of your parents.  Do you want to know who Stane sold the weapon too?” Jyn started to explain, sounding as if she was about to start lecturing the woman.

 

“You dirty, dirty liar, it is always Stark he is a disgusting excuse for a human being.  It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if the guy were to turn up dead suddenly.  It would ahh serve him right after all!” Designation: Scarlet Witch couldn’t possibly have looked even eviler if she had an evil moustache to twirl menacingly.

 

“Right, you’ve hinted at that, but that’s not strictly true.  Would you be interested in finding out whose name was on the order requisition form for that weapon?  I dare say, you knew him quite well.  After all, you fought under his command for a great many years.  Do you want to know who you should have saved all your energy for?” Jyn lightly mocked the woman sitting across from her before continuing “It was one Wolfgang von Strucker.  I can see that name means something to you, for the record would you mind telling me exactly who or what that is.”

 

“No, you’re lying, the man along with Doctor List was able to give us the powers to go after Stark.  Without him, we might not have gotten as far as we might have hoped.  Why would he try to harm our country?  What possible reason would he have for those missiles?” Designation: Scarlet Witch started to plead.

 

Dacia looked at the woman with feeling revulsion beginning to crawl up her spine as she looked over at Designation: Scarlet Witch.  She wondered why the woman continued to bleat on with the same thing over and over again.  Smirking as she wondered how much fun Jyn was likely to have to pull her misguided beliefs down around her ears.

 

“I’d normally apologise, but I just don’t feel sorry.  Do you want to know why he bought those weapons?  Or at least some of the things we suspect about the man’s intentions because as you know, he is dead.  You had a hand in his death didn’t you?”

 

“I suppose that you are going to tell me, so go on tell me what exactly I am missing.” Designation: Scarlet Witch tried to rally.

 

“I’m going to go on a bit of a tangent here, don’t stop me if you have heard it already.  But Strucker wanted a political landscape in Sokovia that was easy for him and HYDRA to take advantage of, the government in place could have defied them, but as with most good things, it comes to an end.  Strucker, as I had mentioned earlier, want a softened government; they weren’t receptive to bribes, something that Strucker would have likely fallen back on.”

 

“Oh but Colonel Strucker was a patriot, why would he do anything to harm Sokovia!  That doesn’t even make any sense.”

 

“And yet the guy was HYDRA; he was fairly high up in the organisation, one of the heads.  He didn’t like the idea that he couldn’t mould the politics in the country to how he wanted it.  And why would he?  Wouldn’t make a very good little terrorist if he wasn’t trying to change things around in any case.  But that’s not where you come in, now is it?”

 

“No, but he allowed my brother and I to take part in the experimentation we used to take down Stark and the Avengers.”

 

“No, you silly woman, he didn’t pick you two for the experimentation because he liked you.  He picked you because the two you already seemed like you good soldiers for the HYDRA cause, so why not throw the two little pawns to the experimentation.  After all, it wasn’t as if anyone was surviving it then what could it hurt him?  Don’t think too highly of yourself, nor of the man, you weren’t intended to survive.”

 

“You know that isn’t true?  WE WERE EXPERIMENTED UPON TO LEAD HYDRA’s FORCES TO GREATNESS, WITH US AT THEIR HEAD, THEY COULD HAVE BEEN GREAT, AND THE WORLD WOULD HAVE BEEN A MUCH GREATER PLACE!”

 

“Wow, that was a reach, does it hurt you stretching that far?  I hope you didn’t pull a muscle while making that frankly ridiculous assertion?”

 

“It wasn’t a stretch, but I have seen the light, and if you knew what Stark had done, you wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss my words.  That guy is pure evil; I don’t even know why we are discussing it, it is as certain as the sun will rise in the East and set in the West.” Designation: Scarlet Witch tried to force out a laugh as she thought of the some of the more ludicrous things she felt like she had to set right.

 

“Right, no I heard that I understand that you feel that way, I’m just struggling with some of the concepts that you are coming out with.  I am just trying to work out by which metric you are judging the supposed evilness of the guy.  It can’t possibly be about you, because sunshine, you joined a terrorist group, did it not possibly enter into your mind that was even a slightly questionable thing to do?  And I have heard the idea that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.  But I cant work out how you thought that it was a good idea.  So let me in on some of your thinking here, because this is starting to confuse me.”

 

“That guy got rich of the backs of other people.  He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.  Thanks to his Daddy, he never had to work a day in his life.  Can you blame me for hating the guy?”

 

“Well, I’m going to stop you there, I don’t like to be bored and you Miss are boring me.  Don’t take it personally it’s just that I get bored listening to someone continue to go round and round in the same idea.  As much as I can be held guilty of just such a thing, you understand that it bores me a little.” Jyn pretended to yawn.

 

“Now, that wasn’t very nice all I’m trying to do is tell you where I’m coming from, the guy is evil personified.”

 

“We will have to agree to disagree there.  You see, Dr Stark yeah had inherited a multi-million dollar weapons, yeah, he struggled with the sudden responsibility for a few years.  But he also managed to take that company and diversify some of its interests, to the point where it became a multi-billion dollar, with a great many interests beyond simple weapons.  He was later kidnapped in Afghanistan, and that woke him up to the downfalls of his weapons company.  To cut a long story short, his company left the weapons trade behind, at what could be argued was a great personal cost to him.  But that’s something that I don’t see you becoming too interested in.  Something tells me that you don’t see further than the end of your nose.  I’m right about that, aren’t I?  Right now I want to know exactly what you decided to ditch ULTRON and join with the Avengers.  Please don’t give me the crocodile tears; I’m honestly not sure whether or not they would irritate me or inspire some form of rage in me.”

 

“We had learned, I had seen that Ultron's ultimate plans meant the annihilation of everyone on earth, we couldn’t let that stand.  So we joined up with Rogers and his merry band of thugs to protect this earth.  It wouldn’t be fair to any children growing up that they couldn’t know what life on this planet could be.” Designation: Scarlet Witch eyes’ started to well up as she began to think of some of the things that were likely going through her head.

 

“Sweetcheeks I said to spare me the crocodile tears because they aren’t going to work on me.  But do you want to know what I think?  It should have been clear from the get-go that the robot wasn’t ready to wear daisy chains.  Not in the very least.  So I think you realised that if you supported the robot, it would mean the end of your brother.  Your supposed heroic gesture was born out of nothing more than a desire to save your skin.  How am I doing so far?” Jyn asked, folding her hand together.

 

“Sounds about right, but you are missing the best part of my plan.  Would you like me to tell you what exactly you missed?”

 

“Yeah go for it, but if I could hazard a guess, I’m going to guess that you didn’t get in on the Avengers by simply fluttering your eyes.  Something tells me that you didn’t spread your legs either.  I am going to guess that you still have too much arrogance and that maybe you couldn’t see yourself as too precious to do that.  How am I doing so far?”

 

“Close but no cigar, I only had to enter into Rogers' head and see how I could manipulate him.  He only wanted to see the best in everybody around him.  All my brother and I had to do, was to spin him a sob story about how we had seen the light and wanted to fight alongside the Avengers.  It made my spine crawl having even to say those things, let alone speak to _him._ I still maintain that we did nothing wrong.” Designation: Scarlet Witch shrugged her shoulders as much as she could at least.

 

“Okay, I can see why you might think that.  So tell me, did you perhaps keep any feelers in the team’s mind?  To continue to turn them against Dr Stark?”

 

“Oh, that?  That was my finest piece of work; I didn’t have to do much more than nudge them in the right direction.  He turned them against him all on his own.”

 

“Right but didn’t you already have fingers in their minds?  I’m going to guess that you planted something in their minds THEN, not that it would be too difficult for you to do.  So am I going in the right direction.”

 

“I might have implanted thoughts then, not that it was difficult.  He lost any respect that they had for him when he created ULTRON; it’s not my fault that the guy created a genocidal robot.  I didn’t do anything to him, nothing to make him think that such actions would go in the right direction for him.  How stupid can you be to think that creating a large robot was the right course to take?”

 

“Oh, but don’t you know that when you attacked him when you planted the thoughts in his head of those horrible nightmares.  Is there any point to this or am I simply going round in circles?  What part of it aren’t you understanding?”

 

“That?  I was told to do that, and let me tell you how delicious it was to me, more than I even have the ability put into words.  The only way this could have been better was if I still had my brother at my side.  At least I didn’t have to put up with Stark too much.  Thank goodness for small mercies rights?  At least I didn’t need to have him there still taunting me after everything I had lost.”

 

“Changing topic again, I want to ask what exactly made you leave the Compound.  I mean, sure you were already in a lot of legal trouble with regards to your actions in Lagos, but that could have been dealt with.  No easily, I’ll give you that one.  Your VISA application was already in a bit of trouble.  Turns out that Rogers and the US Immigration Department, differ on some things.  Your previous membership to a terrorist organisation is one.  In fact, I bet you don’t know that it was only thanks to Dr Stark’s access to incredibly efficient lawyers that Stark keeps on retainer fo people like you.  As long as you did your part and kept yourself away from prying eyes, away from public notice, it could have all been fine,” Jyn gave a short laugh before continuing “so it was really thanks to his breathtaking guilt complex that you were able to work with the Avengers.  It was a lot of trouble just to get you onto a work VISA, but it didn’t seem as if you were going to get a green card.  Do you have anything to say for yourself here?”

 

“Stark was locking me up, he had shoved me into that compound and told Vis to keep me locked up.  He was breaking my human rights; I did the right thing when I ran away!  I wouldn’t even piss on that man if he was on fire”

 

“You say that, but I don’t think that you know what a real prison is like.  Because I have been in a few in my time.  The Compound?  That is like a 5 Star luxury resort; you had access to a private swimming pool, gym features, internet and constant access to cooks so that you could have three award-winning square meals a day.  If you wanted to cook, then that option was there for you.  If that place were a prison, you wouldn’t even last two days.  I have been places where I have been locked up in damp and squalor just waiting for the day when I could feel warm again.  I have been locked up in places where the only thing I had left to myself was my body, the things I had to do to get by, would give you nightmares Princess.  So don’t even talk to me about prison.  Not when I don’t think you could understand what it is like.  Sunshine you better hope that man wakes up soon or you will be for a world of trouble and I don’t even think you completely understand.”

 

“I don’t believe you, that place was not pleasant, and I will thank you to not discount my experience.” Designation: Scarlet Witch sniffed, sure that she was in the right.

 

“You make me sick, up you get, I can’t even look at you anymore.”

 

Jyn stood up from behind the tablet and began to cautiously stretch out her stiff limbs, while Dacia hauled the woman to her feet and locked her wrists together once again.  Rubbing her dry palms together, as she thought once again that she should probably once again start thinking of using hand cream.  It was beginning to become faintly ridiculous that her skin should always be dry.

 

Making a sudden motion, she hurried to catch up with Dacia and Designation: Scarlet Witch.  Jyn cast her mind once again to some of the things that had come up during the interviews.  Walking through the doors alongside the two women, Jyn wondered what Dacia had no doubt thought of the interview.

 

Still, her questions would soon (hopefully) be answered.

 

_WHOOSH_

Walking with her head held high, Wanda thought not for the first time, whether or not she it was worth her time attempting to reign in her temper.  There was nothing to suggest to her that she would better try to hold it, nothing but the other Avengers.  She looked over at Clint’s cell and felt her lip beginning to curl; it was nothing but pointless to her, how could a monster like Stark ever betray them?

 

Wanda knew of course that she hadn’t ever expected anything from the monster, so she couldn’t have expected the guy to continue to support them?  Not when she had already had her fingers in the guys head, and deliciously fractured she found the guy’s psyche.  Not that she wanted to be done with the guy, not yet, she still felt as if she had so much more damage to do to the guy.  She might have found it a bit of struggle to ensure that the guy was kept well under her heel.  The only thing that she could regret was that she hadn’t the time to do anything more to him, if Rogers had damaged the man too badly, it would simply irk her not having that play thing around anymore, if she didn’t have something to play with?  Well, then Rogers might not like the thing that he had unleashed.

 

It was such a simple thing for Rogers to deal with – sentimentality, it was a wonder that the guy had managed to wake up in the morning.  Sure, she might be locked up on this bizarre floating rust bucket, but she still had one going for her.  She was at least locked up in proximity to her hero.  The thing that had managed to instil so much fear in his enemies.  Rogers could bleat all he wanted about the guy not being guilty because he preferred to spin a tale about the guy who wasn’t in his right mind and Wanda found not caring too much about what had happened to the guy.

 

Pietro would be so jealous, if he could only see who she was psychically close to.  Well, he might be a little frightened for his baby sister.  Pietro also laboured under the delusion that Wanda needed to be protected.  Something which Wanda found so funny, not when Wanda was always willing and able to play the long game, there was nothing better to her than being able to sow her seeds and watch them bloom.  Pietro had been told the exact same stories as her, that the Winter Soldier would be the one to guide them back into a position of strength, with the man’s help they might be able to run this World again.  Wanda may have only seen the HYDRA as a means to an end, an end which included the downfall of Stark.

 

Never again would Wanda have to hold some assholes hand, because everything seemed to be coming up Wanda again.  If only she could work out why she could access her magic, then nothing would be able to hold her back.

 

She would just have to wait and bid her time, because everything was going to turn in her favour soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> President Dalton is the President in Madam Secretary  
> Nadine Tolliver is the former Chief of Staff in Madam Secretary, she retired to spend more time with her kids.  
> Jay Whitman is the policy advisor to the Secretary turned Chief of Staff  
> Theresa Hurst is the VP in Madam Secretary  
> Daisy Grant is press officer in Madam Secretary  
> Matt Mahoney is the speech writer in Madam Secretary  
> Kat Sandoval has replaced Jay Whitman as political strategist  
> Blake Moran was the only one on the current Madam Secretary who came on with Elisbeth McCord
> 
> President Dalton was diagnosed with a Meningioma in the show, so I didn't want to google too much about Meningioma because I know how inaccurate Google can be about medical conditions. I know this from experience


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Interview with Sam, we're getting closer to a crescendo here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to lie I'm screaming at the new Infinity War trailer.
> 
> Leave a comment or Kudos guys, I'm honestly not sure if anyone is reading this

Jyn sighed in relief as she woke up, yesterday had been a nightmare for her.  She would probably always struggle with some of the feelings left over after having seen her Mama be gunned down and her Papa taken away.  Whoever said that something like that could leave a mark on a young girls psyche was lying.  Or inept at whatever job they claimed to be doing?  Washing her face with a cold cloth, she gasped a little when she realised that some things couldn’t be simply left in the past, no matter how much she might want want to leave those ghosts in her rearview mirror.

 

Subconsciously rubbing one hand over her arms as she made her way through the spaceship, Jyn found herself dreading the day ahead.  She found herself wondering how many ghosts from her past she was going to have to face.  It was a troubling thing for her to find herself wondering what exactly separated herself from Designation: Scarlet Witch.  The things that she had found out the day before, or at least been told, were troubling.  Not the least because of some of the things that she had heard were borderline pestering her for further introspective analysis because she could see how easily turned into a reflection of the same woman.

 

Jyn could easily understand the impulse to nurse a grudge – goodness knows that she had been guilty of the same thing in the past.  In her case though, carrying a grudge could be inordinately helpful, it had helped her in some way to process what she had seen happening.  If she hadn’t been able to develop grudges, she honestly didn’t know if she could have survived as long as she had.  Thanks to being able to process some of the things that she had spotted happening so long ago she didn’t know if she could have moved past some being witness to her Mama being gunned down.

 

One thing that she did know was that Baze had nurtured her ability to hold those grudges because she made herself useful to him, he found use in Jyn being able to hold those grudges.  He had whispered in her ears that her Papa was a bad man, he had told her countless lies to get her to believe in him, to believe the worst in her beloved Papa.  Some things that Jyn knew she would never be able to find herself comfortable in ever again.

 

It wasn’t until Jyn had been left behind by the man that she was able to revisit some of her memories, be able to look calmly and rationally.  She was able to remember some of the good times from her Papa being able to bring her up.  She was able to feel some of the love she still had left for the people who brought her up.  The ability for her to process how much she loved and still missed her Papa (and her Mama) and that they couldn’t possibly be as evil as Baze was so fond of whispering in her ears.

 

There were some things that she honestly felt like she would be able to rationalise completely, some of the things she hadn’t even told Dacia and Cassian.  She was pretty sure that at this point they might have suspected some of the things, but as long as she didn’t have to speak about those things, all the better for everyone involved.  There were some things that she couldn’t speak about, at least not without a boatload of artificial courage and full knowledge that she would likely spend the next day curled up in bed haunted by the ghosts of her past.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Making her way into the central computer nodule she was faced with the sight of Cassian stood over the central computer, it looked as she wasn’t the only one that had to wrestle with heavy thoughts today.  Dacia was wearing a serene expression on her face, puttering with a couple of physical notebooks.  It looked as if the woman was trying to find patterns in some of the interviews.  Jyn idly wondered to herself whether or not the woman had managed to find whatever it was that she was looking for.  It would seem that she didn’t have to wait long because Dacia started to speak.

 

“Alright, well I’ve been trying to go through some of the things that she said in that interview.  Some of the things weren’t adding up for me, for one I was wondering if the woman was likely to be using her influence over the others in those cells.” Dacia started, looking troubled by some of what she was saying.

 

“Alright, that explains the physical notebook at least, you always prefer to make notes when you are trying to make connections.” Cassian teased the woman, straightening his limbs out so that he stood at his full height.

 

“You do that Dacia, but more importantly, what exactly do you think that you have learned?  I was in that same interview with you, and unless she was speaking some other language, you heard the same bullshit as I did!  What do you think she told you?” Jyn laughed, attempting to hide her frustration with the Jedi.

 

“You know the way I suspected that the woman might be influencing the others before we went in?  Though what I couldn’t work out was whether or not she was doing it subconsciously?  I don’t think it was ever subconscious.  She is too talented, too manipulative, to make such an elementary mistake.” Dacia frowned.

 

“What are we talking about it here?  Do you think that we can work around this somehow?  Can we break them from her conditioning?” Cassian frowned, having glanced at Jyn in worry.

 

“I’m not sure if we can, it doesn’t seem as if we can magically break them from her hold.  It’s likely that she has held the other two under her sway, then it has been a long time in coming.  If we can break her from it, then it might seem as if it could potentially take us twice as long to break them from it.  She does seem as if she has a serious grudge against Stark.  Jyn any thoughts?” Dacia sighed.

 

“I was thinking about it last night, but the one thing that freaks me out, more than anything is how close I could have been to become that girl.  It’s amazing to me that I had managed to go so long without figuring out, how delicious, how seductive it could be to someone like me to nurse old grudges.  How immensely satisfying it could be if I had just put myself first, for a change.” Jyn spoke with the air of a woman who had just discovered something great for herself.

 

“If you decided to go down that path Jyn, who knows whether or not you would have come onto the Resistance’s radar, onto my radar.  You know that there is no coming back from that Jyn.” Cassian warned.

 

“Once someone goes down that path, it’s very hard to get them back.” Dacia quietly warned the other woman.

 

“I know, I know, it’s still startling to think and wonder how little separates me from her moronic bullshit,” Jyn muttered, crossing her arms.

 

“We need to get back on track, who are we interviewing today?” Cassian abruptly changed the topic.

 

“We have Designation: Falcon to interview today, but I’m a bit conflicted about how much we can expect him to know.” Dacia sighed.

 

“He might know something, in any case, he was the one that sent Dr Stark to Siberia after Designation (Former): Captain America and his buddy his pal Designation: Winter Soldier, so he might be able to tell us something that went on in Roger’s head.  Though, with how close Rogers played his cards, I have a suspicion that he didn’t tell Designation: Falcon everything.” Cassian told the two his thoughts.

 

“That is true, but we should still treat this interview with the man as having the potential to tell us something.  Shouldn’t we question Designation: Winter Soldier about what he knew about what went on?  Is there even anything that we can expect the guy to tell us?” Jyn cautioned the two.

 

“It doesn’t seem like it’s likely, at the very least he might not have known exactly what was going on.  After all, he isn’t in his right frame of mind, not at the minute.  Not while he is still trying to deal with some of the after-effects of his time with HYDRA, but he might be able to tell us what happened in Siberia.” Dacia sighed.

 

“We should be cautious when it comes time to interview him; I don’t want to say that anything could set him off because that is something that I am worried about happening,” Jyn warned the two thoughtfully.

 

“If he can tell us anything about the potential victims of the Winter Soldier, Jyn do you think he could tell us anything about that?” Cassian thought aloud.

 

“I wouldn’t put too much hope in him remembering things.  From my looking at some of the notes on his brainwashing, remind me of the brainwashing that the clones for the Imperial Army undergo.  More intense though, than anything.  Don’t forget that Barnes was taken as Prisoner of War; he was also forced into cryofreeze between each hit.  Every time he was taken out, he effectively had his brain scooped out of his skull, and implanted with new memories.  Anything that HYDRA didn’t like was forced out of his mind.” Jyn warned the two.

 

“Alright, well that’s fair enough we can’t expect for the guy to have full and clear memories, that could be used in a court of law.  We should probably remember to treat it as optimistically as we can, right?” Cassian seriously asked.

 

“Right you are, but at least Designation: Falcon’s interview should be a little easier for us to handle.” Dacia laughed aloud.

 

“Who do you want to send in to question the guy Dacia?  I’m not sure if I feel up to it myself, I’m still a bit shaken up by some of what we learned in the Designation: Scarlet Witch interview.” Jyn asked, still clearly shaken up, feeling like her emotions were all over the place as she tried to deal with her feelings.

 

“I want Cassian to ask the questions; I will be looming in the background.” Dacia supplied brightly.

 

“Alright, well that’s fair enough.  Was there any particular reason you wanted me to ask the questions?” Cassian looked over at Dacia as he spoke.

 

Cassian wasn’t sure that he could easily understand where the woman was coming from.  He considered the thought that Dacia was hoping that maybe he would be able to get through to the guy, simply because they were both guys.  In all his time knowing Dacia however, he knew how crazy an idea that was, the woman wasn’t one to play on gender or sexuality to get what she wanted.  Cassian thought that it was maybe a holdover from her Jedi days, they didn’t like to treat others as different based on who they preferred to lay with, right?

 

The thoughts led Cassian to wonder whether or not the woman was maybe banking on Cassian’s background as a spy, something which could prove to be more helpful in cutting through any bullshit?  It wasn’t something that he would consider as being easy, nor something which automatically sprung to his mind, but it might just work.  He had long since realised that Dacia was likely to see small patterns which had easily dismissed as being out of hand.  Whatever Dacia was up to, he should simply play along until he could see what her end goals were.  Dacia had _always_ opted to play her cards very close to her chest; it would no doubt become clear to him later on.

 

“Yes, you might be able to ask him the right questions, things that neither Jyn nor I would easily think off.  The ones that might not occur to us, not as readily as they would for us anyway.” Dacia trailed off thoughtfully.

 

“Okay that sounds fair, do you want to do it now?” Jyn checked with the woman.

 

“Yeah, otherwise we might just end up talking ourselves out of it.” Dacia sighed, before directing Cassian towards the door in front of them.

 

Cassian looked over at the woman and nodded already running through some of the scenarios in his head.  Making his way out of the room in front of Dacia, he began to hum a little to himself quietly.  Hiding a yawn from his friends, Cassian idly wondered how little sleep he had gotten the night before.  He had been tossing and turning all nights while he tried to reconcile himself to some of the thoughts that plagued him after the night before.  He kept wondering to himself what else had possibly happened the night before.  What exactly had served to separate Designation: Scarlet Witch and Jyn, what exactly had happened to change their outlook on life so drastically?

 

_WHOOSH_

 

“It seems as if whatever we find in that interview could have two potential outcomes.  We could either be hideously disappointed with whatever we find, or overjoyed, but do you think we could potentially find anything?” Cassian asked the woman, wanting nothing more than to nail her down to an answer.

 

“It will be worth it because at the very least we will have to find something, the law of averages right?” Dacia winked at the man before skipping ahead of him.

 

Cassian laughed at the woman before he shook his head and followed the woman further down the corridor.  The two were happy to walk in silence while they were thinking of what they were likely to come up against within the next few hours.  Nodding their head at one another when they came up to the door that led to the cells.  Pulling up their hood as one they entered through the door into the prison cells.

 

As one they separated to perform their normal duties, both feeling confident that because they had done what they were about to do so many times that they could do it in their sleep if needed.  This time, Dacia made her way over to the central computer in the room, and stood beside it for a moment and started to hit a few of the keys in front of her.

 

While this was going on, Cassian was calmly making his way over towards the glass cell door that Designation: Falcon stood languishing behind.  Flicking his eyes over at Dacia, who nodded at him.  Shooting one last glance at the man, Dacia focussed her attention back on the keyboard in front of her.  Quickly tapping through the options in front of her, she quickly typed in a set of commands.

 

Cassian focussed his attention back on the cell door in front of him and moved some of his weight over to the small tablet screen that hung affixed from the wall at the side of the door.  Listening carefully for the faint clicking noise, wanting to make sure that none of the other prisoners was likely to get out of their own individualised cells.  When he heard the click that told him the rest of the doors were locked, he put a command forward that would allow him to open the door to Designation: Falcon’s cell.

 

Having opened the door to the cell, Cassian made his way in and peered thoughtfully at the man before him.  Reaching a hand for the handcuffs, he warily watched as the man slowly turned around.  Stepping forward Cassian took hold of the man’s wrists and securely locked them behind the man’s back.  When he had done so, Cassian made sure to carefully march the man from the cell, all the while still not being sure what he should make of the man.

 

When the two passed by Dacia, she shared a brief glance with Cassian before following them from the cell block.  Closing her eyes briefly in frustration when she realised that it was typical of her body to begin coming up with a new song to hum under her breath.  It was the way it typical went when she was attempting to focus on something; she would find something else to hold her attention.

 

Following after the two, Dacia slipped into the ~~interrogation~~ interview room behind them just as Cassian was making sure that the man wasn’t likely to escape.  Fixing her attention to Designation: Falcon and cocked her head to the side while she tried through some of the things running through her mind.

 

She wondered to herself what had happened to the guy to make him think that following after Rogers was a stellar idea.  She felt a momentary feeling of disappointment and confusion crash over her while she considered some of what she knew (and could guess) about Designation: Falcon.  She was able to guess that on some level the guy was reasonably independent, she had read accounts from her foster parents that he was always able to think for himself.  So Dacia had to wonder what had snapped in the man’s mind to cause him to follow along behind Designation (Former): Captain America?  It was something that puzzled Dacia; she couldn’t understand why the man chose to tie his flag to Designation (Former): Captain America and forget that he had ever had independent thoughts.

 

Noticing the man beginning to shift under her scrutiny uncomfortably, Dacia blinked once, realising that she was staring at the man like a bug underneath a microscope.  Making her mind up to simply pay attention to the interview, it would be interesting to hear the questions that Cassian thought to ask.

 

“Hello, my name is Cassian Andor, now, more importantly, do you understand why you are here?” Cassian calmly asked.

 

“No, why am I here?  What possible reason do you have to hold me?”

 

“Well, I guess the introspective part hasn’t fully kicked in for you yet, right?  You were caught doing something highly illegal, do you understand that Sir?” Cassian pressed the man.

 

“Hey now, I did not do anything illegal, my civil liberties were being infringed.  I just got into this situation because I was told some things.  Stood up for the little guy.”

 

“Oh, the little guy huh?  So the little guy doesn’t include the countless civilians and law enforcement agents that were either killed for maimed while you were fighting.  Does it include people who won’t be able to get around without a lot of help in the future?  Did it involve screwing up other people’s futures?  Because from where I’m sitting that’s exactly what it looks like.”

 

“What are you talking about?  Those people were fine when we left them; it won’t be the end of them.  Besides we had heard that members of the Joint Counter-Terrorist were sent out with orders to shoot Barnes on sight.  Steve wouldn’t just let his old friend get shot, especially not for something he didn’t do.  You know as well as I do, that was a frame job.” Designation: Falcon tried to exclaim.

 

“I don’t know where you got your intel from, but it’s false.  There were never orders issued to anyone to kill the guy.  Did you not consider that it was fairly unlikely if people were ordered to shoot first and ask then people wouldn’t have been able to ask questions later?  I imagine that you might have forgotten that Rogers didn’t grow up in this time, he didn’t realise that things work differently for the most part now?  Am I on the right path here?”

 

“We got our intel from the former Agent Thirteen; she told Steve that what she told us was true.  Why would she lie to us?  What possible reason would she have to lie to him, they both had something for each other!” Designation: Falcon tried to protest.

 

“Don’t tell me that you haven’t lied to someone that you have had feelings for before?  Or lied to someone.  All because you had feelings for someone?  I don’t pretend to understand the female mind, Yoda knows it’s a crazy scary place.” Cassian laughed at the man.

 

Dacia shifted uncomfortably behind the two; she wasn’t sure what purpose Cassian was attempting to drive at here.  All she knew was the guy was beginning to tread a very fine line.            Deciding that it was time to get this meeting back on track, she cleared her throat quietly.

 

“Right, well anyway you do know some of what was going on behind the scenes of the decision between the two not to continue dating?  You see when it transpired that the two of them had a connection in the form of Peggy Carter, it became a bit icky to put it in a form that you might understand.  It also didn’t help that the whole they met was because of the intervention of another, one Nick Fury.  That wasn’t something that you can easily walk away from.”

 

“What has any of that got to do with me?  I am not the man’s keeper, WHY ARE TELLING ME ABOUT ANY OF THIS!” Designation: Falcon roared beginning to become upset with some of what he was hearing.

 

“No?  Maybe you aren’t his keeper, but you do seem to be one of his loyal disciples?  But right now?  Right now, I don’t believe in flogging a dead horse, what exactly was it that made you think that retrieving those wings, getting involved in a fight, the one in DC I am referring to here, was a good idea?”

 

“Man what would you have done if you were approached by Captain America, don’t tell me that you wouldn’t have done anything to get involved.  The man was a hero of mine; he always had been, tell me what was wrong with getting involved?  Wouldn’t you do anything to help your heroes?” Designation: Falcon tried to scoff.

 

“I do know because I genuinely don’t think I had any heroes, at least none living and none not fleeing for their lives.  I come from a bit of a different place than this you see, one where I was more concerned with staying alive than I was with looking up to people.  All of us were.” Cassian explained to the man, running a hand through his hair.

 

“That’s a sad way to live, but I don’t see what it has to do with me.  How can you not have any heroes, everybody has a hero.  It is who we are as humans.”

 

“It might not seem like a big deal, but honestly at Home, we didn’t have a lot of time to spend obsessing over someone else when we have other more pressing concerns to deal with than obsessing over someone else.  In fact, I’m willing to bet that not even Dacia here had any heroes, she isn’t the time to waste her time anyway.  At least she isn’t now; maybe it was a different story when she was growing up, I don’t tend to ask the pointless questions.  Not when I don’t need to know the answers.  Unless it’s pressing, then I don’t feel the need to waste my time.  You understand don’t you?”

 

“That’s fair, but how are you going to grow into a good person, make good decisions if you don’t have someone to look up to.”

 

“You still don’t get it, do you?  Right now, I don’t understand why you are continuing to insist that I should have had heroes.  I don’t, I didn’t, and you need to move on.  It is just the way I am, move past it, I know that I know have.  What made you decide to continue with the heroic behaviour.  There was no reason for you to continue with the heroics.  You used to work for the V.A. didn’t you?”

 

“Yes, but the V.A. and I parted ways after DC.  I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

 

“Oh, it has a lot to do with what I am attempting to drive at here.  It might not seem like a lot, but were you called to testify in front of a Congressional panel about your role in that mess?”

 

“No, I wasn’t because nobody knew who I was, they hadn’t been able to identify who the flyer was.  I wasn’t wearing the Iron Man armour; I wasn’t wielding a big hammer, I wasn’t big, mean and green.  By what metric could anyone have identified me?”

 

“You didn’t think that your former employers could have identified you?  Excuse me for being callous, but were there many other flyers with the Falcon wings?”

 

“My uh best friend Riley also used the wings, but he was ah shot down.  Are you saying that someone should have been able to identify me?  Why did no one identify me then?”

 

“Beats me, maybe someone was looking out for you?  I wonder who that could have been, do you know who that could have been?”

 

“What, Stark?  What possible reason would have had to protect me?  He didn’t know me from Adam back then.”

 

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that it had something to do with the fact you had befriended Rogers.  At that point the man still assumed that they were friends, and why wouldn’t he want to go to bat for a guy that was helping his friend.  Except for that point, it all changed right?”

 

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Designation: Falcon sniffed.

 

“No, maybe you don’t.  After all, did you know what happened on Rogers part then, I’m just curious about what you either knew or didn’t know then.”

 

“Between Stark and Rogers?  I didn’t know anything about what may or may not have changed between the two.”

 

“So, you didn’t notice that the relationship between the two had changed, my apologies you didn’t know how the two were likely to interact before DC.  You can’t say that you didn’t notice that the two had a borderline antagonistic relationship.  Except of course when Rogers wanted something, then he was all over the man like white on rice.  Don’t tell me that you didn’t think that was slightly odd?”

 

“It didn’t seem to be strange, anytime I brought it up to Rogers, he told me that Stark needed to be brought down a peg.  The guy always had everything he wanted, who was I to say that the guy was wrong?  Especially when a guy who had fought alongside the man told me that the guy was too big for his breeches.”

 

“His breeches?  What the hell are you talking about, was Rogers his best friend then? He didn’t anybody else in his corner?  For far longer than Rogers had known him?  Because I know someone who will be pissed off at you for even thinking that.”

 

“He implied that when the two of them had fought against the aliens together, the two had become best friends.  Now that you put in that way I am starting to see how foolish I was to take him at his words.  How is Rhodey do you know by the way?”

 

“You shouldn’t ever have assumed.  Anybody that makes assumptions about one Dr Tony Stark usually tends to wind up dead.  Count yourself lucky that the guy didn’t decide that he wanted you dead.  So, do you know anything about that the good Cap might have wanted to conceal from Dr Stark?”

 

“No, I tend to try not getting involved in any of that particular level of shit any more than I need to.  Did something happen in Siberia that I need to know about?”

 

“Yes, it seems as Dr Stark was ready to go there in peace, at that point he might have even have counted them as friends, even though he had already had his shit kicked out of him by his supposed friends.  Oh, and his real best was laying unconsciousness in a god damn coma due to that fight.”

 

“The guy seemed angry, but he didn’t seem as if he was ready to start fighting with them, are you saying something happened there?”

 

“You are hearing me correctly.  We have seen some of what Dr Stark saw in that bunker.  What we need to know now is did you know what they fought about and did you know what they fought about?”

 

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have anything else to offer, is the man, is Dr Stark okay?”

 

“Mr Wilson, I don’t know if you are aware of this, but when two hulking great super soldiers take on a normal unenhanced guy, even if said guy is wearing a suit of armour, it doesn’t end well.  Dr Stark got the shit kicked out of him; his suit was badly damaged in the fight, he was stranded.  He couldn’t get out of there, not with his medical problems.”

 

“What’s that got to do with me?  I didn’t have anything to do with that guy choosing to go there.  He asked me for information; I simply gave him the information, it isn’t up to me whatever he did with that.”

 

“No, but I don’t think his friends are going to let you get off that easily.  After all, Dr Stark was put into that position because you made him promise you that he wouldn’t go there to fight.  I don’t they are going to be concerned with legalities and trivialities when it could have been so easy for Dr Stark to simply paint that bunker with their blood and gore.  I mean, you’ve seen that suit when it’s used in combat right?  You know how difficult it can be to stand a chance against that armour.  At least not if you don’t have access to fancy-pants technological armour.  But all the protection that the armour could provide?  It meant nothing when it came to a pair of pissed off Super Soldiers.”

 

“You’re lying, I may not know a lot about the two and their relationship, but Steve would **_never_** try to hurt Stark.  The two of them were on the same team before this whole mess for crying out loud, why are you giving me these painted words?  I know they aren’t true.”

 

“Turns out that you don’t know a lot.  Because of Dr Stark?  He still hasn’t woken up, and you and you can bet your ass that if he doesn’t wake up?  Then nobody knows why the man was even in Siberia; he doesn’t do much business in Siberia, at least not out in the sticks.  Want my advice, Mr Wilson?” Cassian offered the other man with a considering look in his eye.

 

Designation: Falcon nervously gulped; Dacia watched as the man’s Adam's apple moved up.  Trying to hide a sneer as she thought about the number of nerves the guy was no doubt trying to hide under an already cracked façade of bravado.  It was always interesting watching when someone realised the amount of trouble they were in, Dacia thought idly to herself.

 

“If Dr Stark does not wake up anytime soon, then you had better hope that Designation (Former): Captain America tells us that you didn’t know _exactly_ what you were sending the guy into.  Right now?  It doesn’t look too good for you.” Cassian finished, watching as the man looked like he was finally beginning to understand some of the wrongs that he had done.

 

Leaning back in his chair briefly, Cassian opened his mouth as if he was about to begin speaking, before shaking his head.  Clambering up from his position, Cassian made his way around the table and hauled a limp Designation: Falcon to his feet.  Nodding over at Dacia, Cassian unchained the man from the desk and began the journey of walking the man back to his seat.

 

When Cassian and Designation: Falcon made their way from the room, Dacia stepped away from the wall she was leaning against and followed the two.  It was likely going to be interesting for her to hear what the man made of some of the things Designation: Falcon had told them.

 

_WHOOSH_

Sam stumbled a little as he was pushed through the doors to his cell.  He wondered if all that he was being told was true.  It was entirely likely that they had no reason to tell him the truth.  Sam could recognise that there had been a line drawn in the sand or the ice as it may be.  Either way, there was nothing to suggest that Sam couldn’t believe what he was being told.

 

It was at this point that he told himself it would be unlikely that even if he were in control, anything he decided to tell _HIS_ prisoners would be suspect.  Could he hold these people to a higher standard than he held himself?  It was curious but while he knew that it was fairly unlikely that he was being told the complete truth, so maybe it would be a good idea for him to take everything with a grain of salt?

 

Looking over at Steve, he was forced to wonder how he had managed to build the guys image up so high in his head?  Should he have stopped to think more about what he was signing up for and who he was prepared to follow until the very ends of Earth? 

 

He knew what that one of the big things he could rely on during his time in the US Air Force was oversight.  He might not have had to think a lot, at least not beyond having to wonder _too much_ about what he was doing.  He hadn’t had to use his skills for anything sketchy; he thanked his lucky stars.  But he was always able to rely on a higher power having his back, taking heat for some of the more difficult decisions he was forced to make.

 

Now he wondered how and what exactly had possessed him to think that getting away from any form of oversight was a good idea.  He wondered if anything had happened for him to make a definite guess on what had happened to steer him so far from those ideas. 

 

One of the things that had constantly given him pause during the weeks he had had been forced to think about during his time doing sweet fuck all on his arse.  It was significant that he had so much time.  So it would seem that he found himself beginning to wonder where he had gone wrong.

 

Sam would have nothing more than endless time to wonder how exactly he had gotten into this situation.

 

“Steve what exactly did you do?” Sam sound himself asking angrily.

 

Steve looked back at the man, indecision warring in his eyes as he tried to make up his mind about he should say.

 

Sam raised an eyebrow at the man and tapped his foot up and down impatiently.

 

“Why exactly are we getting questions about what happened in Siberia?  What did you two do over there?” Sam pressed when the man attempting to press home the need for answers.

 

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering that too, why have we all been asked questions about what happened there?  Why have we been getting questions about something we do not know off?  Steve, why did I leave my family behind?  WAS ANY OF THIS WORTH IT BECAUSE SO FAR I DON’T THINK SO!!!” Clint exploded in rage.

 

“That’s something that I would like to know too.  I was already a criminal on parole when I decided to come out.  And while you probably don’t think you need to know the answers to these questions, I’m going to ask you simply, did you have any good reason to call me, a person you don’t know to fight alongside!  TELL ME WHY I AM IN POSITION?” Scott roared looking completely fed up with the situation he had put himself into.

 

“It wasn’t Bucky’s fault!  It wasn’t him!” Steve started to rail.

 

“Punk, why do you always have to insist that it wasn't my fault!  Why don’t you tell them what happened over there and more importantly tell them WHY we were fighting in that hell hole!” Bucky raised his head, his gaze piercing a hole through a defiant Steve.

 

“We saw a video, but it wasn’t Stevie IT JUST WASN’T HIM.” Steve tried to protested.

 

“Oh shut up Stevie, we watched a video of me assassinating Stark’s parents, and it turns out that Stevie here knew but never told him!” Bucky’s scratchy voice rose, fury beginning to coat his term.

 

“YOU DID WHAT?!  HOW LONG DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?!  DID NAT KNOW?” Cint began to shout looking distraught at some of what he might have been party to.

 

“Yes, she knew” Steve confessed whispering.

 

“And what did you do next?  Something tells me that you haven’t told me told anything!” Sam pressed.

 

“We fought with the man; we left him there” Bucky whispered.

 

“I hope that you ahh killed him, that monster deserves to know true pain.  Even if I had hoped that it would be that dealt the killing blow” Wanda whispered, her accent beginning to thicken as she thought of some of the things she would have to do to the man given half a chance.

 

“WANDA!  What the hell would you say that for.” Sam tried to chide the angry woman.

 

Scott just looked around and wondered even more what he had gotten himself into.  How could a group of people so adept at hiding secrets from one another, could possibly call themselves a team?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looks like it's starting to heat up a bit more

“So, I was watching through some of the details of that interview, and while we were not able to find a lot of new information, it doesn’t seem like he knows a lot,” Jyn remarked, fiddling with her hands.

 

“If he did know _anything_ he certainly played it very close to his chest, Designation (Former): Captain America I mean.” Dacia sighed.

 

“It’s possible that he didn’t want to let anyone in on what he found.  Certainly not someone that he didn’t feel as if he could trust.” Cassian dryly remarked.

 

“He was only helping the guy try to find his murderous best friend.  So what reason is there for the guy not to share everything he knew for definite?” Jyn snorted.

 

“No, but if you think about it this way.  Designation: Falcon only helped the guy trash part of the Potomac River, he didn’t help him in New York or go on any S.H.I.E.L.D missions together.  It wouldn’t lead to a lot of trust built up between the two.  But Cassian did you see any indication that the guy may have known more than he was letting on?” Dacia asked the man frowning.

 

“No, it does confirm a sneaking suspicion we had that the guy had gotten himself involved in something a lot bigger than he suspected at first.  If Designation: Falcon recognised this, he possibly wasn’t able to back out.  I’m not even sure if he knew what he was getting himself in for, Jyn you are the only one of us with a background in psychology what do you think?” Cassian deflected.

 

“No, watching the video while you guys were in there.  I didn’t see any of the standard telltale signs that the man might be trying to hide something.  It’s like you said Cassian it’s likely that the man didn’t have the whole picture.  Why should he, after all, be told everything that his friend knew?” Jyn frowned.

 

“So, it looks as if the guy knew that he was going in for the long haul so to speak.  If he spotted something going on that was wrong, he might have felt as if he was too far gone to raise questions or sound the alarm.” Dacia tried to sum up.

 

“Exactly, I don’t imagine that he was ready to step back.  What I’m struggling with understanding though is that the guy persisted in following the guy.  Surely, you would have to know at some point that you weren’t being told everything.” Cassian interjected.

 

“Never the less he persisted right?” Jyn whispered.

 

“You have mangled the phrase but yes.  It might have been a kind of sense of pride that kept the man from stubbornly accepting that he had stepped into something that he couldn’t quite believe or understand.” Dacia allowed, nodding her acquiescence.

 

“Thank you.  Jyn were you able to get any further work down while we were in there?” Cassian randomly thanked the woman before pressing Jyn for more reports on what she had done while the others were engaged in the interview of Designation: Falcon.

 

“Yeah, I was able to reach out to some of the people in MI6 to see if they had anything we could follow on where Designation: Black Widow might be hiding.  Unfortunately, though the intelligence apparatus was gutted when Blofeld and C managed to get their claws in.  A lot of the previous intelligence agency had to be gutted to check for moles, double, sometimes even triple agents.  So I would be slow to trust anything just yet, I was only able to find this out by digging around.  We don’t want to point out that it’s possible to get so close to their base of operations.  Might spook them!” Jyn ended with a laugh.

 

“But they are aware that we have made contact with them now, yeah?”

 

“Yes, I have a bit of connection with them, mainly with a young guy who goes by the moniker Q, I’m not sure why they seem so fond of calling each other by letters rather names, but to each their own I assume!” Jyn laughed.

 

“Okay, but we need to get back to the most important part, have they found any trace of Designation: Black Widow, you know we have to find her right?” Cassian reminded Jyn.

 

“Thank you, Cassian, always proving to be the most straightforward guy.  He was able to tip me off that they _knew_ where she _was_ certainly some months ago.  But he was able to tell me that they, of course, have some feelers out on where the woman could be.  So, for right now?  It’s been a bit of a bust being able to talk to the people.  I’m hopeful that we may be able to find something more if we continue to work with them?” Jyn retorted smartly at the man.

 

“Do they want anything from us though?” Dacia asked quietly, not sure that she would like the answer she was about to get.

 

“That’s one of the benefits of being small players in this hideous game, at least in this Universe, nobody knows who we are.  Not yet, anyway.  For now though?  I’m playing it cool and making sure that they get no idea of what we can do.  At least not until Ms Potts or Ms Hill can get back to us on some of what they want us to extract from this.  Until we know, all balls are up in the air so to speak.” Jyn reflected.

 

“That’s good; we need to keep hidden until it’s time for us to come out into the open once again.  Did you write any emails to Potts or Hill while we were in there?” Dacia nodded, her strategic mind working in overtime as she thought through some of the things that she was likely to have to do.

 

“Yes, I’ve forwarded a copy of the email to you guys, it should be on your tablets about now.” Jyn flicked the screen of her tablet.

 

Leaning back and looking over at the two others as they reached for their tablets, intent on getting answers, for questions that had long since plagued them.  Jyn bit her lip as she thought through some of the things that she felt nervous about her friends reading.  Recognising that she shouldn’t feel nervous about even a little bit nervous, it wasn’t her diary that they were reading.

 

Dacia glanced up briefly at Jyn before switching all of her attention back to the tablet screen in front of.

 

 **TO** :     Ms Hill and Ms Potts and Vision, The

 

 **FROM:** Jyn Erso

 

 **CC** :     Lewis. D, Andor. C

 

_Hello, my name is Jyn Erso, and I am one of Lewis’ associates.  We have performed the interviews of Designation: Ant-Man, Designation: Hawkeye, Designation: Scarlet Witch and now Designation: Falcon.  As you can see I have included the transcripts and video files in the attachments to this email.  For your consideration I would like to draw your attention to the lack of guilt felt by Designation: Scarlet Witch, she still likes to labour under the mistaken belief that Dr Stark is completely evil._

_It’s my experience that people are rarely completely evil or good.  As I’m sure many will share this belief with you, everybody has a streak of evil in them, just as everybody also has a small amount of good.  Even if the good is buried deep inside under a whole mess of shit._

_I’ve been going through some of the files that were leaked by Designation: Black Widow and they indicated that Designation: Hawkeye may have a family.  Could I inquire if this is true and if the said family has been moved to protect them?  I cannot believe that children inherit the sins of their parents, in this case, father, and I could not rest easy if the man’s family were hurt in the crossfire of this whole mess._

_I have been able to read some of the emails and memos that indicate the behind-the-scenes affairs of the State Department.  It seems as if Secretary Ross may have gotten to his current position by blackmail.  The Previous Secretary of State was Dr Elizabeth McCord; she has been hounded out of the State Department by General Ross and his flunkies.  Some of her previous decisions while still in the job hint that how the Sokovian Accords might have been presented to the Avengers would have been drastically different, relatively peaceful.  Ross, by contrast, was one for shock and awe tactics, perhaps not having become accustomed to his new position._

_I have also been able to make contact with some of those at MI6, for the time being, the agency or ministry is undergoing a significant amount of changes, especially after Blofeld and Spectre.  Have you noticed that the logo for Spectre and everyone’s favourite squid-based terrorist organisation is remarkably similar?  Can we confirm whether there is a link there beyond the typical ‘The Enemy Of Enemy Is My Friend’?  Do we need to keep an eye out for their attacks on us?  I feel I do not have to remind you that thus far we have been able to skate by unnoticed and I would like it to remain that way._

_Certainly, it should come as no surprise to you, that we may be able to get more of our objectives attained that if we have to worry about people being ready for us.  I hate to press the question, but no one will find out about us until we are ready right?  Dacia has informed of some of our early demands for working with you, and while thus far it is working out, I would hate for us to have to wash our hands of our association with you._

_Allow me to get back to the MI6 thing, but it seems as if the agency has a good idea on the whereabouts of Designation: Black Widow.  Or at least they have seen the type of place that the woman seems to enjoy haunting.  If I can even use the adjective haunting because we seem to have been able to narrow down the woman’s general location.  Even if that general location at the moment is disturbingly large.  I hope that we will be able to find the woman shortly._

_I am writing to you primarily because we are about to head into the ~~interrogations~~ interviews with Designation: Winter Soldier and Designation (Former): Captain America and would like to know if you want any particular questions asked and (hopefully) answered?  Let us know if we have missed anything, as always!_

_Signed_

_Jyn Erso_

“That’s a good email, and hopefully it gets our point across,” Dacia told the woman when she had read the email in full.

 

“Yeah, it’s good, can we expect to get any answers from this email.  You know that they have been slow to respond in the past.” Cassian warned.

 

Jyn nodded, having expected this type of resistance from the pair.  Thinking about what she wanted to say next, not wanting to speak out of turn, she opened her mouth;

 

“At this point, they should answer, in any case, I attached the videos and transcripts from our previous interviews.  So while I do not anticipate a response right away, I do hope that we will get one.  But that wasn’t all I notice while you guys were busy.” Jyn replied crossing in fingers in imitation of one of this bizarre Universe’s good symbols.

 

As far as Jyn was concerned the whole thing was slightly bizarre, she was firm of the opinion that a person could make their luck.  Glancing at her friends, she felt comfortable in being able to guess that they felt similarly.  Jyn could acknowledge that a small amount of luck had maybe been involved in her successes escaping some of the traps that the Empire had set for her.  She had concluded that her father had possibly missed so much that her father had missed her so much that Tarkin would taunt her father with the knowledge that his daughter had been captured.  It stood to reason that Tarkin might want to complete his set of the Erso family, after all, he had had the matriarch of the family executed and the patriarch firmly under his thumb.  Why he wouldn’t want to exterminate the daughter (at the very least for being a thorn in his side for so long) or at a minimum to ensure that he had something to keep that idiot Galen in line?

 

Trying to make sense of the man’s motivations could only serve to keep her awake at nights, while her mind churned through some of the possible motivations that Tarkin had once held.  It didn’t matter to her that the guy was now dead, or that they were no longer in the same Universe (maybe it was Galaxy, Jyn could get confused at times) but Jyn would confess that she felt as if she wanted to understand what happened.  Had her life thus far served any purpose?  Or was she simply running because some guys felt as if they were bored and wanted nothing more than to stir up hardship, trouble and strife?  Jyn wasn’t completely sure what thought had terrified her more, kept her up at night when she tried to parse some meaning to the motivations of unmet met.

 

“Okay, so are have we got any questions to ask Designation: Winter Soldier before we head in?” Cassian calmly asked.

 

“Well they haven’t replied yet to the email, but I still feel as if we should be careful with the possibility of shaking the man up a bit too much.  We already know that we will need to tread carefully, we can’t be sure what the man knows.  Or even what state his mind will be in, so I would like to be the one interviewing him.” Jyn told the two, not requesting that she was allowed.

 

“Yeah I thought would be better if you interviewed the man Jyn, who do you want to provide the security and loom in the background of the room?” Dacia thoughtfully replied.

 

“For now, I think it’s best if Dacia comes in with me.  Cassian’s general bulk and body language might freak the man too much.  If you watch us closely over the VT monitors, but I imagine that if the guy begins to freak out too much then at least between Dacia and myself, we should be within the hope of being able to contain the guy.” Jyn apologised to Cassian with a bit of a shrug.

 

“That’s fine, just keep an eye on his body language, we don’t want to run into trouble before we are ready to handle anything.” Cassian shrugged off the woman’s apology.

 

“Okay, while we are over here can you make sure that everything goes according to plan?” Dacia told the man before asking “Jyn do you have anything that you need Cassian to do while we are otherwise engaged?”

 

“Yeah, can you keep an eye on the worms that I have out, I’m hoping that at some point something might bite?  Or at the very least I want to know as quickly as possible if the MI6 ones can tell us anything.” Jyn told the man, incredibly matter of factly.

 

“Yeah, I will keep an eye on that while I keep an eye on the VT equipment of course.  If I keep doing it soon, I won’t have any eyes to spare!” Cassian laughed as he waved the two women off with a smile.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia made her way from the room, awkwardly rubbing her arms, momentarily waiting for Jyn to catch up with her.  Jyn took in a deep breath and cast an inquisitive glance over at the woman.  Allowing her steps to slow down so the two of them could walk side by side, Jyn wanted to make her way through the silver coloured corridors at an even pace.

 

“I am not even sure how much good we will be able to obtain any usable intel from the guy.” Jyn sighed to her friend.

 

“Right, but of course as always it is worth asking questions.  At the very least we will be able to find out how much the guy’s mind is present.” Dacia tried to speak chirpily.

 

“Always willing to try anything huh?  Typical Jedi!” Jyn laughed shortly.

 

“That’s me, Jedi scum!” Dacia laughed before her tone hardening “That doesn’t bother you that I always feel the need to learn as much as I can?  I mean you know why I learn as much as I can?”

 

“No, it’s got us out of sticky situations in the past.  It can get slightly irritating; when you freeze up we are about to do anything, especially when a thought a thought suddenly occurs to you!  But no I don’t mind it, I know what you can get like when you are faced with a new problem that hadn’t occurred to you yet!” Jyn waved the woman off, laughing.

 

The two women abruptly silenced themselves when they reached the door to the prison cells.  Stopping in their path, they both turned to face one another and nodded aware of what they would both have to do.  As one they both pulled up their hoods, not sure if there was any reason beyond nostalgia that was forcing them both to keep their hoods up.  Whether or not they choose to keep their hoods down, they were both aware that it was too much of a habit for them to keep said hoods up.

 

Swiping their hand over the large button that would allow them into the cells beyond, the two nodded at one another and made their way into the room.  Jyn made her way to the central computer and busied herself pressing the buttons, while Dacia got herself into position.  Peering across the room at her Jedi friend, Jyn found herself wondering not for the first time how exactly she had gotten herself into this mess.  In any case, it wouldn’t be the last time she pondered the question and the motive behind the decisions that led to her being in this mess.

 

Waiting patiently for the nod telling her that it was time for her to begin swinging into action.  When she received her nod, Jyn refocused her attention on the keyboard in front of her and typed in the few commands to make sure that the doors should remain tightly locked.  There was no point in them having to deal with any other distractions when they were removing Designation: Winter Soldier from his cell.

 

Allowing the sound of the click to echo around the room, Jyn briefly glanced in the other cells, wondering in any of them were about to react.  Feeling a small amount of disappointment when it simply looked as if Designation: Designation: Ant-Man rolled onto his side away from the door.  Watching the reaction of Designation: Scarlet Witch was interesting, checking the feed from her cell it looked as if she was attempting to snarl and call upon the powers which had been ripped away from her.  Casting her eyes over the woman’s vital signs, Jyn sucked in her bottom lip with disappointment and resignation flooding through her when she realised that it looked as if the woman was attempting to call on her powers again.  She would have to remember to tell Cassian that his security measures were working.

 

Dacia meanwhile was focused on the task that she was intent on carrying out.  Sidestepping to the tablet affixed to the wall beside the entrance to Designation: Winter Soldier’s cell.  When she heard the click of the doors that led to the other doors, she pressed the feature on the screen in front of her that she knew would allow her into the room ahead.  It was time for her to collect Designation: Winter Soldier and bring him out to his interview.  There were some questions that the man may be able to answer.

 

When she had made her way into the cell, Dacia tentatively smiles at the guy who looks back at her with curiosity and resignation mingling clear in his gaze.  Knowing the drill clearly by now, through watching the other prisoners and knowing what he was likely to go through the same motions he quietly turned for Dacia to lock his wrist to Dacia’s left wrist.

 

Taking the man from the cell, Dacia placed a hand on his remaining elbow and guided the man towards leaving the cell block.  Ignoring the rest of the prisoners beginning to shout, or more rather it was Designation (Former): Captain America who choose to make his disapproval of the situation known.  Glancing over at Jyn, Dacia realised that if she needed to know anything, no doubt Jyn would give her the cliff notes later.  He was probably shouting some nonsense along the lines of how they could treat them like this and that they were innocent.  Suppressing a snort, she had to wonder if the man had any comprehension of what innocence meant.  The fact that he didn’t realise that tearing up an airport wasn’t usually a hallmark of innocence.

 

Hearing Jyn follows behind them, Dacia carefully led the man to the ~~interrogation~~ interview room.  She was under no illusions that the guy hadn’t suddenly become safer and less of a threat simply because he was missing his metal arm.  It would be the height of stupidity to assume that the Super Soldier Serum than ran through the man wouldn’t also work on the rest of his body.

 

When she had put the man in his seat, she carefully cuffed his remaining wrist to the metal pole affixed to the table and stepped back.  It was time to allow Jyn to do her business.  Dacia was under no illusions that Jyn would be able to get some answers from the man.

 

Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear!

 

Jyn quietly made her way into the ~~interrogation~~ interview room and shared a look with Dacia before taking her seat opposite Designation: Winter Soldier.  Taking the chance to peer at the man and carefully choosing her next words, before she opened her mouth to speak.

 

“Hello, Sergeant Barnes, my name is Jyn Erso.  I am here to interview about your part in the clusterfuck that was the Avengers Civil War?  Do you understand this?” Jyn gently asked not wanting to put the man on his defensive.

 

“Yes, I understand that, but I don’t understand why I am here.  I wasn’t an Avenger; I shouldn’t be here.” Designation: Winter Soldier replied looking confused about where he was.

 

“We understand that we know that you didn’t mean to get involved, after all as you said you weren’t an Avenger.  We just need some help in clearing up your motivations in joining with that mess.  Do you mind if we begin now?” Jyn began, fidgeting slightly underneath the man’s steady gaze.

 

Dacia gazed at the man; she was able to see a little of the man’s alter ego shining through.  She could sometimes see Cassian adopting the same patterns of behaviour, at least when he chose to tap into his assassin side as a leftover of the time he had spent in the Resistance.

 

“Okay, well that’s fair enough.  For not though I am not interested in your time spent as a HYDRA assassin.  When it comes to the chance to prosecute you for that, you could no doubt be tied up in courts while people argue about which jurisdiction would be the correct one to try you in.  We want to try to understand what pushed you to get involved if you would mind explaining your actions the best you can.” Jyn tried to remain calm.

 

“I was happy staying far away from this whole thing.  I was in Romania to remain as far away from the Avengers.  I didn’t and still don’t recognise Stevie, at least not completely.  I knew he was looking for me, but I wasn’t ready to be found.  I still needed to clear my head, to gain control of some of the demons that I had accumulated after a long time being used as HYDRAs slave.” Designation: Winter Soldier spoke.

 

“Okay, that explains why you were found in Romania, but that doesn’t explain why you were there, to begin with?  Had you been living under the radar there since DC?”

 

“After DC I was able to travel the world, hunting down my previous handlers.  I was going to work towards burning down HYDRA worldwide, but I was better looking for me, the Winter Soldier’s handlers.  If I was able to liberate some prisoners and make life difficult for those scum.  I had to take it.”

 

“Alright, and do you feel as if you were successful in getting rid of many of you uh former handlers?”

 

“Not entirely.  I couldn’t get my hands on one guy who had set me on the friend of a friend.  Vasily Karpov.  He was the one that arranged for me to kill Howard Stark and Maria Stark.  He was paranoid, but there was some disappointment.  The guy that made the order for that assassination, Obadiah Stane, I learned that he had been killed by Stark just a few years ago.”

 

“Alright, well you know now that was one reason.  But what we want to know is why you decided to throw your lot in with Rogers?  Was it a long friendship that motivated you?”

 

“I don’t; I can’t remember Steve.  My memories of my life before the War are shaky; I can’t remember the guy.  Some days are better than others, but I never felt comfortable enough to trust those memories.  To trust whether or not those memories are real.  I was only interested in retaining some distance from the people who would try and force in one way or another.  I don’t want to be forced to be someone who I am not, just to make things easy for someone else.  I want to feel like my person again, does that make any sense?”

 

“It makes more sense that you imagine.  While we might not have your exact experiences, we do have some experience with brainwashing and manipulation.  Do you anything of the people who you fought with, alongside whatever you want to say in the Civil War?”

 

“All I know is that they had fought alongside Stevie, that he could call on them to fight with him at any time.  Is that wrong?”

 

“Not quite, but you see those people who you fought alongside were more designed to be pawns on the part of Rogers.  To him, it didn’t matter that they should get into any more trouble as long as he got you out of trouble, hell he didn’t care who he had to send up the river as long as you were okay, everything was going to work out in his head.  But the woman that you were fighting alongside?  Something tells me that you would have objected to fighting alongside her if you knew.”

 

“I thought I could recognise her, I thought her bearing was similar to some of the things I have seen, but who is she?”

 

“Do you want to know?  I only warn you because if you only knew, then I suspect that you wouldn’t know what to do with it!” Jyn’s shrugged, warning the man.

 

“Tell me, who is she?  I deserve to know who was fighting alongside me!  Who was so ready to lay down their life for me!” Designation: Winter Soldier narrowly stopped himself from begging.

 

“Why Soldier don’t you know who it was?  That was Scarlet Witch; she is or was HYDRA, I’m a little confused I confessed, can you ever leave HYDRA behind?  Are any of the ones taken in and twisted beyond recognition by the various Squid factions every truly innocent?  That’s what you can bet your sweet ass Designation (Former): Captain America will say.”

 

Jyn peered at the man in front of her, with questions dancing in her eyes.  Behind the two of them, Dacia quietly surveyed the man, wondering what route he was going to take with his answers next.  She could see the man hurriedly going the various scenarios in his head and discarding each as being inconsequential, he clearly couldn’t see what the two were shooting for, so maybe it would be better for him to play along.

 

“None of the people in HYRDA were innocent, not even the janitors and handymen.  All were willing to die for their cause, all were willing to kill for their cause, and you say that Stevie was willing to forgive and forget THAT woman?  Why would he do that?  Did she bat her eyes at him?  Or did she spread her legs for him?  I don’t know who this Stevie is, but the guy from Brooklyn?  The one that I grew up with?  He would have understood that it was a bad idea to put her on the team.” Designation: Winter Soldier protested.

 

Dacia cocked her head to the side and considered the man in the seat.  She could sense no outward signs of dishonesty from the guy.  Dacia acknowledged that it was likely to be one of the first things that HYDRA taught their asset (whether or not he already knew) how to lie convincingly.  Dacia wondered whether or not it was likely that most intelligence agencies taught their operatives how to lie, goodness knows she had watched enough tapes of Designation: Black Widow to see that it would be difficult to catch the woman in a lie.  Dacia however with the help of Cassian was able to detect some of the more obvious tells, the woman wouldn’t be able to lie all the time.

 

“At the moment?  We think that she batted her eyes at the man and spun him a story about how she and her brother could now acknowledge that they were wrong.  We do wonder if it was possible that the guy took advantage of the situation by getting them on the team, thereby softening the way for when you came in from the cold.  Don’t mistake me for a minute Sergeant but we suspect that since DC at least the Captain has been playing the long game.  It was brilliant luck on his part that a genocidal robot had been created; how else could be expected to kick Dr Stark off the team?”

 

“Look he has changed since I knew him when he was on a one-man mission to take down all of the bullies on the backstreets of Brooklyn.  The guy that I knew back then?  He wouldn’t have had the patience to wait while things started to take shape ahead of him.  He would have simply charged in and changed things around to suit him.  Why are you saying this?  It can’t be true.”

 

“And yet it is, Designation (Former): Captain America knew from DC what had happened to Dr Starks’ parents.  He knew that they had been assassinated, but instead of allowing the man to get closure, he didn’t tell Dr Stark what had happened the guy he so professed to be friends with, the guy’s son wasn’t allowed to grieve properly.  In fact, did you know that he was still taking Dr Stark’s money, lodgings and time while not telling the guy what he either knew or suspected?  The sad part is that a guy who had never met the two of them was able to use that against the guy, he was able to manipulate a situation and turn Dr Stark’s rage into a positive force for his own benefit.  I mean that wasn’t that different from all that the Avengers used Dr Stark for, they simply took benefit of the guy’s knowledge, generosity and expertise while at the same time not thanking him.”

 

“This isn’t a team is it?” Designation Winter Soldier sadly asked.

 

“No, you could say that it’s a chemical compound waiting to explode.” Jyn finished looking at the man sadly.

 

Jyn stared at the man for a while, looking at him until he felt uncomfortable enough to look away before sighing and getting to her feet.  Crossing the table to Designation: Winter Soldier’s side and taking the cuff from the pole in the centre of the table and attaching it to her wrist.  Glancing over at a worried looking Dacia, she shrugged and made her way from the room guiding the quiet man as did so.

 

Trying to shake the worry from her mind about what happened to make Dacia lag behind them, it had to be something big.  Either way, Jyn felt like she had to know more about what was troubling Dacia, it couldn’t be anything good.  Moving through the corridors with the man waling slightly ahead of her, Jyn’s mind whirling through some of the thoughts running through her head.

 

Guiding the man back into the cell block, Jyn crossed the silver room and momentarily stood the man in front of the glass that separated his cell from the large cell block.  Sidestepping the man, she began to tap at the monitor, listening carefully for the clicking sound that indicated that Dacia had reached the central computer.  Smiling briefly when she realised that it didn’t seem as if the man knew that she was there.  Waiting until the rest of the doors were securely locked, she tapped a few of the features, tapping her foot up down, her eyes darting the large glass door.

 

When the door opened for her, she gently pushed the man into through the door and followed him in.  Working the cuff off the man’s wrist, Jyn smiled briefly at the man before settling the man on the bed.  Making her way from the cell, she stopped briefly at the screen beside the door.

 

Nodding over at Dacia, Jyn followed the woman from the cell block, casting her a nervous look at the woman.  She found herself wondering if everything was about to change or become insurmountably difficult.  Catching up with a worried Dacia outside the cell, she reached out to stop the woman.

 

“Things just became that much more difficult for us, c’mon I need to talk to Cassian before everything goes pear-shaped.” Dacia hissed before hurrying off to the central computer nodule.

 

_WHOOSH_

James’ head hung, he found a patch on the floor between his feet to be supremely interesting to him. Or maybe that small patch of floor wasn’t as interesting as he thought it was, maybe he was subliminally trying to distract himself as much as possible.  His mind was running through some of the things he had learned, and he was questioning himself and how well he knew his friend.  He was beginning to suspect that he didn’t know the guy at all.  It was like he had said that interviewer lady, his captor, whoever she was, he didn’t recognise the person that had shown up in Romania.

 

Standing up from his bed, still slightly unbalanced from the loss of one of his arms, he glared into the cell containing the Witch.  He wondered to himself why Stevie and his friends had been so quick to trust the HYDRA bint.  Trying to go through his memories looking for some clue, anything to even hint at the fact that he might have come into contact with the woman.  He was under no false pretences that his memories of his time with HYDRA were perfect because they were distorted and muddled up and oh so very cold.  There were still some things from that time that he hadn’t told Stevie yet.

 

Things that he didn’t think the guy could ever hope to understand.  Some things that he knew would be difficult to explain, especially to a guy like Stevie who still saw things in black and white.  Or at least James thought that they guy saw things in black and white because some of the things that he had been told in that interview implied that the guy was very comfortable operating in a morally grey area.  Why had he decided that it was a perfect idea to work alongside a woman with definite and concrete ties to HYDRA?

 

“Punk, I’m going to give you one chance to tell me why YOU WERE FIGHTING WITH A WOMAN FROM HYDRA?  AND DON’T GIVE ME ANY OF THIS BULLSHIT THAT SHE IS INNOCENT, OR A CHILD, SHE IS A COLD BLOODED KILLER.  THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US WAS THAT SHE LEPT AT THE CHANCE TO FIGHT FOR HYDRA, SHE REVELLED IN KILLING FOR THOSE ANIMALS.  YOU WANT TO TELL ME WHY YOU THOUGHT IT WAS A BRILLIANT IDEA TO HAVE ME NEAR ONE OF THOSE LUNATICS WITH A HARD ON FOR MURDER?!” James screamed.

 

James might not have noticed, but the weird one, the guy that didn’t seem to fit in with any of this, jumped in his cell.

 

“Don’t be like that Bucky, everything I did, I did for you, for us.  She is an innocent child!” Steve protested, not being used to having his friend angry with him.

 

“INNOCENT, YOU CAN SPARE ME YOUR BULLSHIT, EVERYONE IN HYDRA IS READY TO DIE, EVERYONE IS READY TO KILL FOR THAT MESSED UP SHIT THEY BELIEVE IN.  SHE IS NO SHRINKING VIOLET BELIEVE ME!” James roared at the man, his voice cracking in his rage.

 

“Never should have met my hero.” Wanda was heard to mutter from his cell.

 

“YOUR HERO SWEETCHEEKS?!  ALL YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN ME FOR WAS AS BEING THE FIST OF HYDRA, DON’T EVEN LOOK AT ME!!!” James exclaimed, his voice going up in pitch as he sprayed his spittle everywhere.

 

“Yes my hero, Pietro’s too, Strucker used to talk about me marrying you, after all, who better to keep you under HYDRA’s thumb than the great Scarlet Witch?” Wanda muttered.

 

“Excuse me?” James’ voice quietly asked, his voice haven gone completely quiet as he began to wonder who the hell these people were.

 

“Well, you know I can manipulate minds, right?  Who else to keep you a tight leash that an operative adept at mental manipulation.” Wanda shrugged before turning away from the door of her cell.

 

James shot both the cell containing Wanda and Stevie’s cell a look of disbelief before he lay down on the bed, his mind racing with all that he had been told.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the James Bond notes!  
> Blofeld - In this case, I choose to base my depiction of Blofeld on the most recent Spectre movie, played by Christoph Waltz, I haven't seen the old movies in such a long time  
> C - I'm not sure if he was in the older movies, but he was played by Andrew Scott  
> Q was played by Ben Whinshaw first introduced in Skyfall (I think) the role has been played by 6 different men, starting with 1963's From Russia with Love.
> 
> Vasily Karpov was one the Winter Soldier's handlers within HYDRA and arranged the Stark's assassination. He was tortured by Zemo in the movie


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise update! I'm away in London over the weekend, so enjoy the early update. It's Steven's turn to get questioned

Jyn peered at her friend wondering what exactly had happened to the woman. At least she was sure in her belief that whatever it was, it was bound to be something big. Hopefully, the woman would be able to get through the next few days without incident. Running after her friend Jyn wondered to herself what had happened to make the woman feel like she to hurry off, she felt like the only thing she could think sure of was that was that was it was something big and bad.

Catching up with her agitated friend, Jyn gasped, sucking in the much-needed oxygen.

“Alright, well what’s wrong? I was in the same interview as you and I feel like I can tell you that we didn’t learn anything new right?” Jyn asked in concern wondering what was going on.

“No, you are right we didn’t learn anything new in there, but if you mind, I would like to just tell this once. Now come on I need to hurry!” Dacia’s voice radiated with tension and annoyance.

Jyn hurried to keep her friend’s stride. The two of them might have been a similar height, but when Dacia needed to get somewhere, she tended to outrun anyone with her. Jyn would sometimes wonder if it was a leftover from Dacia’s past as a Jedi rearing its head once again. At the same time though she was completely aware that it could just be some facet of Dacia’s personality.

_WHOOSH_

“K, can you check on Jane’s location?” Dacia burst into the central computer nodule ordering the AI.

“May I ask why, it doesn’t seem as if Jane should be linked to this part of our investigation? Checking for the woman now.” K dutifully told the woman.

Jyn arrived behind the woman and shrugged helplessly at a surprised looking Cassian. She had no idea what was going on and was only interested in hearing what Dacia had to say now.

“Dacia, what’s going on? Why are you suddenly so concerned about Jane, the woman is still in the Chihuahuan Desert? Didn’t she go back there after London? Just take a breath and tell us what is going on.” Cassian cautioned the woman, wondering not for the first tie what exactly had happened to the woman.

“Right, I got a concerning email from Jane telling me that she had noticed some of the atmospheres in town wasn’t exactly welcoming towards her. You know that she wouldn’t exactly notice if a troupe naked of men were doing the can-can in front of her. We both know that she tended getting lost in her work at the best of times.” Dacia started, a look of distraught beginning to creep into her eyes as she spoke.

“Right, I remember you mentioning that you would sometimes have to prod her to take better care of herself. But what has that got to do with anything?” Jyn supplied the woman.

“Because we know that if she has noticed something, then it’s bad. We might need to go in and get her if everything is not as it should be.” Dacia sighed, looking at once more irritated and nervous.

“Alright, well let’s game this out, would anyone have any reason to go after Dr Foster? I do agree with you that the situation doesn’t seem right, but is there anything we do for the woman?” Cassian cautiously answered.

“She is still at the facility in the Chihuahuan Desert; I am not picking up any definite threats to the woman, at least no new ones that we should be aware of right now. We should probably be more concerned with some of the things that aren’t there.” K interrupted them sounding thoughtful.

“Alright, well please tell us what that new element that you feel as if we should be looking at it right now?” Cassian asked looking alarmed at what he was hearing.

“I know that for now, we have been searching for Designation: Black Widow, right? It’s possible that she wants to get back onto Stark’s radar, in any way possible. So, she thought that if she should harm the Norse God of Thunder’s girlfriend, then she might get herself back into the game.” K told the woman.

Jyn frowned, her mind continuing to work in overtime as she crossed over to the computer. Tapping through some of the screens in front of her, Jyn frowned as she looked through some of the information that had come back to her after she had loosed a few digital worms to see if they had turned anything up for her. Frowning when she realised that nothing definitive had turned up, it seemed as if nothing had turned up. She would curious to know exactly what K-2SO had managed to find.

“What led you to that conclusion K, I haven’t been able to find anything that we can use to find the woman?” Jyn asked, a subtle note of warning creeping into her tone of tone.

“You are simply a human Ms Erso; I can find some more than you can, remember that I am plugged into this information by my little finger.” The AI cooly responded.

Cassian simply rolled his eyes; he wondered why the AI was continuing to remain combative with the human. When he was still a robot, it was likely that the robot was overprotective. He found that it could be so counterproductive when the Artificial Intelligence decided to pick minor arguments and be prickly with the woman.

“Okay, settle down, K have you picked up anything that could make us think that the woman might be anywhere near where Jane is, we don’t want to place the woman in danger unnecessarily if she gets so much as a nasty papercut I want to be there to spot it. But you didn’t answer Jyn’s question what would she have to gain if she attacked Dr Foster? Wouldn’t the woman be aware that the good doctor broke up with her godly boyfriend? Why would she try to use that to get onto Dr Stark’s radar? Isn’t the woman supposed to be smarter than this?” Dacia mediated the two and began asking some of the questions that were beginning to bubble up as she considered some of the things that she wanted to know.

“It’s possible that the woman wasn’t used to not being the centre of attention, she might have heard whispers about what happened in Siberia, she wouldn’t have felt able to trust them. Don’t forget that she might very well have burned herself and all of her contacts in DC. She might have seen this as the only scenario where she could get back into her sugar Daddy’s pocket. You know fake a little concern, or just go straight to the nuclear option, because whoever heard of working through your problems? Dacia, you were closer to Jane than I ever was, do you know if she ever got an employment offer from SI?” Cassian offered, looking bored.

“Yes, she got one, but she turned it down, not wanting to be any closer to a city with greater levels of light pollution, at least that was what she told me. I suspect that she might have been stubborn and at the time I was glad I didn’t try and push her even further. If she had been moved to New York, especially to a place like Stark Tower, I don’t particularly care what name the Tower was going by; she might have been caught up in the initial ULTRON reveal. Now though, I am starting to wonder if it was the right idea for the woman to piss away the opportunity. I can’t see it ending well.” Dacia answered the man.

“It doesn’t seem as if we can pick up any trace of where Designation: Black Widow is, but she doesn’t seem to be where we expected her to be. At least not even on the same landmass or continent. The one thing that I’m struggling with is trying to understand exactly what her motives are because right now they don’t seem to be making a certain amount of sense.” Jyn offered.

“It seems like now she is more interested in circling the wagons. By which I mean that she might not have begun to realise exactly what she was pissing away and didn’t want to see what she does when she has nothing and no one. Don’t forget that for all of her angsty one woman army routine, she has never been on her own for very long. When Designation: Hawkeye had her in his sights her resolve with The Red Room was weakening, but she was still only looking for some way that she could get herself out of trouble.” Cassian mused.

“Right and while she might have been able to hold onto a limited number of secrets when she had left The Red Room, but then by then, she was firmly under the thumb of S.H.I.E.L.D. It turned out years later that she simply left the one organisation to throw herself at the mercy of different employers. After DC, we can’t claim that there was any difference between the methods and possible end goals, HYDRA truly had their hand in nearly everyone’s business.” Dacia pointed out.

“It still doesn’t make a lot of sense, we need to know exactly what condition Dr Foster is in, we can put that out of our head. K have you managed to find her?” Jyn patiently asked.

“Yes, it doesn’t seem like the residents of the town that she is living near are causing her any trouble. If my vote counts for anything, I will vote that we urgently need to go for the woman.” K-2SO answered sounding uncharacteristically worried.

Cassian and Dacia simply exchanged a look, while the AI of the former robot might still share an antagonistic relationship he seemed to have become fond of the female scientist. Cassian for one felt like he couldn’t understand the robot, not while he was still a robot, nor when he was an AI.

“It doesn’t seem to be something that we could simply explain away. Not without a great deal of trouble. We need to get back onto brass tacks, Cassian did you have any takeaways from watching that interview?” Dacia sharply reminded the two in front of her.

“Right, well we were right, it doesn’t seem as if the guy knows a lot, which after all we had expected. He did have some moments of exceptional lucidity, by which I mean that he can remember flashes of what he did, but he still seems to be struggling with his idea of how he should attempt to rationalise said actions.” Cassian explained to the two in front of him. “Jyn you were the one interviewing him, did you notice anything from a psychological point of view?”

“No, it’s like you said he wasn’t 100% clear on some of the issues that he dealt with, or at least some of the previous hang-ups from his time in the care of HYDRA. One thing that I did find interesting however was that the man didn’t seem entirely comfortable with who his friend had become. It’s a working theory, one which I am still attempting to build, but that Barnes wasn’t able to believe that it was his friend. While it is still conceivable that the guy’s memories may have been shattered, possibly beyond repair, it doesn’t seem like we can trust those instincts.” Jyn trailed off frustrated.

“I don’t feel comfortable dismissing anything Designation: Winter Soldier as out of hand. Yes, his memories might be distorted and confused, especially when it comes to his friend, but there could be something there that we can use. HYDRA may have spent a great amount of time breaking Barnes, but Barnes was before anything a soldier. Admittedly I can’t claim that I know a lot about the guy’s state of mind, but it’s likely that he was able to use the memory of Rogers to try and place him.” Dacia warned before also trailing off.

“So, even before we go in to talk to Designation (Former): Captain America we know that he is going to try protesting that his Bucky recognised him on that bridge. But have we even proved whether or not the man could say that?” Jyn responded thinking aloud.

“No, we can’t while cryogenic freezing is not typically used at home, notorious gangsters like Jabba the Hutt preferred to use methods such as Carbonite Freezing. I was able to intercept reports while I was working within the Resistance that he was working with Boba Fett as one of his henchmen. I was never able to work out if he was fully in the Emperor’s pocket though. So I can’t confirm it with anything from home, but it seems more likely that Designation (Former): Captain America ran into him, by him of course I mean Designation: Winter Soldier near the end of a memory wipe and flash freezing cycle. I wouldn’t bet the farm on Barnes is remembering; it was more likely a combination of elements, a perfect storm in a teacup if you will.” Cassian replied his mind going through some of the things that he could still remember.

“In any case Sir, it doesn’t seem like we don’t need to worry about the conditions of those at home, not while we can’t go home in any case. May I remind you to focus your attention on Designation (Former): Captain America has to say.” K-2SO helpfully reminded the three-sounding fed up with having to say the same thing over and over again.

“He’s right, you know we need to remain focused on what we are doing, Dacia what do you want to do next?” Cassian sighed, clapping his hands together to gather his ideas.

“Alright, BODHI?” Dacia asked, checking whether or not the silent AI was still listening to them.

“Yes, Ma’am” the AI cautiously asked.

“Plot us a route to Dr Foster; I want to be able to act at a moments notice if we find out that she is in trouble. Jyn, I can’t remember what was said about the subject, but I want you to work on scrubbing the video of Siberia, with the help of K, we are going to show it afterwards. Cassian, I want you to interview the man, I am of course happy to loom at the back of the interview. I have a feeling that this may become hairy, we don’t need to miss any possible precautions, not because we are in danger of becoming arrogant and complacent so close to the finish line. At least if the finishing line at this juncture involves completing the initial interviews. That sound good?” Dacia commanded the group.

The two other humans in the room nodded thoughtfully at the woman before launching themselves into action. Over the speakers, in the room, the two separate AI’s played small sounds of their agreement. Dacia paused for a moment, thinking to herself, before coming to a quick conclusion.

“BODHI work with K-2SO to find out what you can about Dr Foster, her current whereabouts and whether or not she is in any danger at present. If you find any definitive information while we are in there, push it to my tablet, a feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me that all is well with the woman. Ready Cassian?” Dacia ordered peering at Cassian as she prepared to make a move.

“Before you leave Dacia, the prisoners are likely to be more than a little agitated in the prison cells. I’ve glanced through some of the footage from the cells, and after we left Designation: Winter Soldier appears to have started shouting. While I can’t tell exactly what he was shouting about, I do know enough to know that now more than ever we will have the rest of them, but more importantly Designation (Former): Captain America is off his game.” Jyn pointed out before the two were ready to leave the room.

“Alright? What’s your point?” Dacia prompted frustrated with some of what she had heard.

“Look, all I am trying to get at is that the guy will be off his game for the next few hours. He will have suddenly realised that what he has done has been wrong but he won’t be able to work out why. This might be something that we can use to potentially lead to the guy’s unravelling. Whether or not you want to look at the whole starting as far back as DC, at least if Designation (Former): Captain America found out about the possibility of Designation: Winter Soldier being behind the assassination of Dr Stark’s parents. It’s likely that from that point he began to separate himself from the other man, even if only in his head.” Jyn held her hands up attempting to pacify the woman.

“It would make more sense for the guy to be able to try and find fault in any of his, by which I mean Dr Stark’s actions, which could give us some clue as for how he acted in the aftermath of the ULTRON fiasco.” Cassian supplied thoughtfully.

“It’s likely, but right now we need to keep our eyes focused on the prize. Are we ready to go into these interviews?” Dacia reminded the two having shortly considered their answers.

Cassian nodded once at the woman before swiftly exiting the room behind a silent Dacia; he found himself wishing that he could only know what to say to the woman. Alas he didn’t, he would have to keep his focus on this next part if Dacia couldn’t force herself to pay even more attention to this upcoming interview because he couldn’t be sure if Dacia were even capable of giving the whole matter her utmost attention.

Shooting Dacia a wary and uneasy look under his lashes, Cassian wondered where the woman’s head was currently. He shook his head once and cast his gaze forward to look at the corridor ahead of him. Deciding his head while he decided to get on with things, it would do him no good if he continued to wonder about where his friend’s mind was. Shaking his head a little while he decided to simply get on with his job, he reached out to swipe his key card through the little machine that sat flush into the wall beside the doors that led to the cells.

Waiting momentarily until the woman was beside him, he nodded to the woman and pulled the hood up around his face. When the two were both suitably hooded up, they both walked through the doors and separated to perform their tasks. Behind him, he could hear Dacia’s footfalls as she made her way to the central computer. Once there he knew that the woman would be scrolling through the settings.

In the meantime, Cassian made his way over to the small tablet affixed to the wall beside Designation (Former): Captain America’s cell. Listening to the sounds around him as he made his way across the cell block. Hiding a smirk when he realised that it seemed as if the prisoners were becoming agitated in their cells. Jyn had already briefed him on what had happened in the cells after they had left Designation: Winter Soldier back to his cell. Cassian reckoned that Jyn might very well be right, Designation (Former): Captain America might begin to start spinning out if (though it was more of when) he realised that he wasn’t in the right. At least not this time.

Cassian thought that might come as a big shock to the man might now realise that he had to make a change. Now he just knew that he had to begin the interviewing process. So, now he would have to get on with the rest of his work. Tapping at a few of the features on the tablet affixed to the wall beside the man’s cell. When he had determined that Dacia had made it so that the rest of the cells were safely locked down. Glancing into the cell, he sighed when he took in Designation (Former): Captain America was standing up looking as if he was ready to start a fight with whoever should come through the door. No doubt this could be something that had the potential to become very awkward and difficult quick.

Taking a deep breath of air, sucking some of the oxygen into his lungs, preparing his body for the potential for a fight. Tapping the button on the screen in front of him he watched as the door opened up in front of him. Shuffling his feet on the spot, Cassian made his way into the cell, loosening some of the tightly coiled muscles in his body, Cassian made his way through the doors.

Realising that he was right to prepare his body for the potential of a fight in such close quarters, he had barely made it through the door when Designation (Former): Captain America attempted to lunge at him. Quickly ducking (as much as he could in such a small space) he grabbed one of the man’s flailing arms and was able to wrench it behind the man’s back. Using the man’s surprise against him, Cassian was able to pluck the man’s other arms and using it to cuff the man’s wrists behind his back. Hissing to himself when he realised that the man had managed to catch Cassian in the side.

Hopefully, no ribs had been broken, even if they felt bruised. He would have to make sure to talk to Jyn afterwards.

Not being particularly careful to be gentle with the man, he might have brushed the man against the wall (but he thought that it was exceedingly likely that the man’s Serum would return him to full health). Looking over to Dacia he nodded once and followed them from the room.

Hiding a smirk when he noted a strange sort of atmosphere is settling in the cells, he could see from the corner of his eyes, Designation: Hawkeye was stood up and peering at the odd-looking trio leaving the room. Wondering if the man’s mind was racing through all of the possible things that they were about to discuss. Cassian had to wonder if the man had realised yet that he wasn’t owed any answers. Not at least, because he had left more questions unanswered.

Cassian felt like he had to hide a shake of his head at the arrogance shown by their ilk.

Taking the man along the corridor Cassian followed after a quiet Dacia knowing that he now had more work to get done, it wouldn’t do him much good to forget where he was. Allowing Dacia to swipe her keycard over the door that the interrogation room lay behind when the door opened up with nary more than a swish, Cassian made his way into the room. Taking special attention to make sure that it wasn’t particularly likely the man should be able to escape, Cassian made sure that the man was securely lashed to the desk in the middle of the room.

Stepping back from the man when Cassian could be sure that the man had been securely lashed to the table. Cassian made his way back to the dull silver table, and slid into the silver seat facing the man and peered at the man in front of him. Cassian honestly felt like he wasn’t sure what tack to take with the man. Having made the man uncomfortable with his sharp gaze, Cassian resolved that it would be better if he simply allowed the man in front of him to speak, only minimally prompted. Cassian realised that he would probably be better if he allowed the man to speak, no doubt Designation (Former): Captain America was in love with the sound of his voice. He would be better served to wait to see what he was given, only prompting when he felt like a question needed further clarification, no doubt the man could offer a veritable gold mine of information if he felt he had something to prove. With that in mind, Cassian began to speak;

“Hello, now I’m sure you can guess why I’m here. But just so that I can be clear, can you tell me what you understand so far of our purpose?” Cassian gently asked.

“I understand fine; you are here because most people with money or abilities would like to fall in Tony’s pocket, tell me what did he promise you?” Designation (Former): Captain America tried to sneer, looking nervous.

Dacia, who was stood in the shadows of the room, cocked her head to the side and wondered to herself if the man realised how open he could be. Especially with someone who had effectively been bred for reading body language. She had to wonder if the man was putting on a show, with all of his most obvious masks laying discarded. Either way, it would be fun watching Cassian disabuse him of that erroneous notion.

“I see, why do you feel the need to continue down that path, you have to understand that it won’t lead you anything good. There isn’t a pot of gold at the end of this path. Why don’t you tell me what you can, from what happened in DC? Or even better, your first impressions of Dr Stark?” Cassian warned the man in a light tone.

“He is nothing like his father, always whoring around, wasting his money, wasting other people’s time. His father was a great man, why does he take such immense pleasure in making other people’s lives more and more difficult?” Designation (Former): Captain America protested.

“Well, now that just isn’t true. You were supposed to be a great strategic mind. Or was that simply more propaganda bullshit, like your captaincy rank?” Cassian lightly asked.

“What exactly do you mean? I earned my Captain rank fair and square. I AM A CAPTAIN!” Designation (Former): Captain America started to shout.

“No, see you didn’t. It turns out that you were in boot camp for less than a month, so at most you could have maybe attained the rank of Private. But you didn’t. Instead, you took part in human experimentation. The role that you fell into, part of the Howling Commandos, even there you shouldn’t have been the highest-ranking member of the Howling Commandos, that, of course, was while you were still using the Captaincy rank.” Cassian explained, folding his arms over his chest.

“We were at war; they wouldn’t have wasted time by sending me to a war college to get a proper rank. There were men out there dying, why would they have wanted to wait around for me to attain some magical knowledge!”

“Excuse me, but you are joking me, right? I realise that you were taking your little ice nap, or maybe you just aren’t interested in politics and world history. You seen after the Second World War, the allied powers wanted to put some of the higher ranking Nazis that still survived in a court of law. The only thing thing was that point they had to be careful, because as we both know the Nazis’ hurt people in a vast range of jurisdictions. So now they had to work out to convene a legal trail for International Law and work with the Russian, French, British and American Law. They had seen what happened when members of the Italian public had managed to lynch Mussolini and his wife, they couldn’t answer for themselves. That idea was creeping into the back of their minds for a few years in advance. It couldn’t be a kangaroo court, but it took place at Nuremberg, a bit of poetic justice. After all, the Nazis had declared some of their most disgusting laws. Some of the decisions that they had enacted about how the legal proceedings are still used to this day.” Cassian explained.

Dacia shifted uncomfortably against the wall; she sometimes found it irritating when Cassian got overly interested in war history and forgot to stop to take breaths. Rolling her eyes at the man in front of her, she felt like she had missed the man’s voice beginning to take on a lecturing tone. Clearing her throat to try and steer the man back to the topic at hand.

“My point is that especially during times of International War, certain parties would want to make sure that they always followed strict rules on who they allowed gaining the rank of importance. Even if they don’t foresee the likelihood of having to answer specific questions, they will quash the likelihood of anyone asking uncomfortable questions. Your rank was mostly done as a propaganda tool to keep the American public in the mind of war.” Cassian calmly explained to the man.

“No, but you are still lying to me. I was a Captain; I am still a Captain. Why should I listen to anything you say. You are nothing but liars!” Designation (Former): Captain America tried to exclaim.

“I’ll admit, I can see where you are coming from, but can you explain to me again, why you think I am lying. Right now, I can’t think of any reasons you may not trust us. Right now, we are the only friends, especially after you pissed away the only man that could help you. You know that the only way you could have come out of this situation smelling like anything other than the shit you currently reek off. See, when you lied to the man for years about what you suspected about the man, nay your former teammate about what you at the very least suspect about his parent’s death. You had to know that it would play out well. Of course, that isn’t counting the small matter that you left him for dead.”

“I couldn’t trust that the man wouldn’t simply hunt down Bucky and kill him. I couldn’t simply trust that the man wouldn’t try to kill an innocent man. You know as well as I do that Stark is prone to impulsive actions and he doesn’t think things through, I couldn’t take the chance that the man wouldn’t do something monumentally stupid! I had just needed to make sure that I wouldn’t lose my best friend again! Not to some man’s stupidity and rash actions.”

“That’s interesting that you should think that, because well it seems as if you didn’t know the man fought beside for long? Dr Stark might have struggled with the information if you had decided to tell him earlier, sure he might have been angry, but he would have concluded that Sergeant Barnes was not guilty, he was the guy who pulled the trigger. He would have wanted to help the man in any way that he could. But you made sure that he was confronted with that information at the worst possible time. Tell me why you decided not to come upfront about what you suspected?”

“I don’t know what man you know, but the man had never shown much by way of impulse control, he just acted without any thought to others. He has never shown a compassionate bone in his body. Why would the unfeeling, shadow of a man try to pretend that he was able to care about someone other than himself just because I was asking on behalf of my friend?”

“Alright, I’m not going to lie to you and say that the man was perfect, but we have been able to talk to some of his former employees, and they have all been able to state that Dr Stark was a good boss. Sure he sometimes had trouble with keeping his attention engaged, but who doesn’t? He always made sure that he was able to keep paying his employees a fair rate, where possible he followed the law. Him signing the Sokovia Accords, was another process of him attempting to follow the law, even if he intended to attempt to alter the law. If he hadn’t, and he still acted as Iron Man, he would have been brandished a criminal, and spoiler alert, companies with a criminal’s name on them, don’t tend to do very well in the stock market.”

“That’s not true; you know that he killed Wanda’s parents when she was still a little girl.” Designation (Former): Captain America once again tried to protest.

“Except that’s not true, now is it? You see after the Sokovia fiasco, Dr Stark ordered another deep dive on any missiles that his former mentor might have sold to Sokovia. It seems like Stane had a habit of selling HYDRA defective stock, which was in turn used to weaken the socio-political climate in Eastern-European countries. You fought alongside Dr Stark for years; you used his gear, did you ever notice whether or not the gear malfunctioned at a crucial point, or even ever?”

“No, but he still killed poor Wanda’s parents, and he was later responsible for Wanda’s twin brother Pietro’s death. Why should I trust him after that? Why should anyone trust him?”

“You know, it’s funny that you should bring up deaths, I honestly thought that you would have been the last person to do that, possibly because you knew how many people you were responsible for getting killed. Especially during your tantrum in DC. It wasn’t just HYDRA agents you outed. You also outed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and a whole host of other organisation’s, anyone who worked in conjunction with S.H.I.E.L.D. died, their families died, all because you couldn’t think of yourself that you should maybe bring in an expert on cybersecurity. But you found out something then, and you weren’t sure if you could trust Dr Stark to keep a clear head didn’t you?”

“You make it sound so bad; we weren’t sure who we could trust to not blow the whole thing, we couldn’t be sure who was HYDRA or not. So, we made the decision not to pull the guy in, Natasha had let me believe that her hacking skills were enough.”

“Except they weren’t, now were they? Because she didn’t leak HYDRA files, but more rather EVERY single file. You can make the excuse that you guys were pressed for time all you want, but it doesn’t quite ring true, now does it? The only thing you managed to achieve from that debacle? You made it easier for HYDRA to gain a toehold on the world stage. And I’m going to stop you before you say anything, it didn’t give them legitimacy but rather spread paranoia amongst employers, or even just neighbours. You see there is a theory that when you can’t trust someone, you start to wonder whether or not they were spying on you. But that’s not my point here, from that point on you were attempting to distance yourself from Dr Stark, because you didn’t want to start asking yourself whether or not your actions were justified.”

“That’s not true, you know that’s true, I never suspected Tony of being HYDRA, how could I?”

“That’s not the most important part; I want to know what you were thinking when you made Designation: Scarlet Witch an Avenger. I can understand why you did it during the ULTRON fiasco, all hands on deck during a crisis right? But even if you didn’t know that she mind raped Dr Stark in that Castle, you knew that she had attacked Dr Banner unleashing the Hulk on Johannesburg. That doesn’t ring like the actions of a sane mind.”

“She was sorry for what she did, and I can understand undergoing experimentation to help your country, I did, and it turned out fine. She lost her brother that was enough; she shouldn’t have to answer questions, not when the cost was already high.”

“I see, so if she hadn’t lost her brother, it might have turned out differently. Would you have turned the two of them into the law? Because I’m pretty sure that anyone who was hurt or knew somebody who died in either South Africa or Sokovia or even at any point during her murderous HYDRA employment would disagree. We have after all been reliably informed by Designation: Winter Soldier that every last person who is a card-carrying member of HYDRA is willing to kill and die for their xenophobic cause.”

“She said she was sorry for what she did, why should I punish her any more than she was already being punished?”

“Eugh, we’re going in circles here, let's get you back to your cell.” Cassian sighed, pushing himself away from the table.

Nodding at a silent Dacia, Cassian grabbed the brick shithouse of a man and hauled him to his feet, before following Dacia from the interrogation room. Content to follow behind Dacia in silence, not sure what Dacia’s reaction would be if he started to ask questions.

When they had left the man in his cell, Cassian felt as if he had to hide a gulp when Dacia’s footfall’s quickened. This probably meant that there was no good news about Jane, he would have to support Dacia.

Putting a quick burst of speed in his footsteps, he hurried to catch up with Dacia just before the woman neared the door to central computer nodule. This next part might become difficult.

_WHOOSH_

Steve stumbled through the door to the cell; he still wasn’t sure exactly what he had done that was wrong. Shouldn’t they be thanking him on bended knee for what he had done to Tony? The guy’s ego was big enough as it was, it shouldn’t all be on him to bring the man down a peg. A frown crossed his face as he began to wonder exactly what had happened after ULTRON to make him think that the guy wasn’t to be trusted.

He could be sure that he had started to distance himself from the man after DC, still not completely clear on what way the man’s reaction to finding out that his parents had been assassinated would be. He didn’t want anyone to take away his Best Friend; Bucky was innocent after all. That part at least had made sense, even if it was in a twisted way, that didn’t right in his belly.

But why hadn’t he even tried to understand what had happened to make Stark think that unleashing ULTRON would be a good idea? Had he buried his head in the sand and tried to move even farther away from the man? The man had been nothing if not kind to the man before, why had Steve felt the need to push himself even farther away?

With a pang growing in his belly, he suddenly wondered what Sarah, his mother might have said to him if she could see what her son had done with his life? What would Howard have said if he had seen the way Steve had treated his only son? Judging by the reaction that Tony had had when Howard was brought up, the two of them hadn’t shared the best relationship. Couldn’t Tony understand why he had been so hesitant to bring up details of his father’s death? Why would he want to hurt the man needlessly, he had still needed a measure of control over the man?

Why did it feel as if he didn’t know his thoughts? Why was there a strange gloss over his thoughts?

Shaking his head at the door to the cell, he realised that he didn’t feel up to answered the incessant questions.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to plot! Seems like Jane might be in trouble, Dacia doesn't know what to do, and Cassian and Jyn try to keep her from unravelling

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, what’s wrong?” Cassian asked panting as he caught up with a stressed Dacia.

 

“It’s Jane, Cassian; BODHI was able to find me some reliable intel that Jane is in troubled or at least being actively targeted.  Come on we need to go in and talk to Jyn.” Dacia told the other man, hurrying to make her way into the central nodule.

 

Cassian shot the other woman a strange look and shook his head, once as if to clear his mind of the flies still buzzing angrily, he might not feel completely comfortable pretending that he completely understood the Jedi woman.  In this, however, he felt that he could glean a few of the issues for himself, he might never be able to satisfactorily explain why he was willing to go out to the frozen back end of the Galaxy for those few he called his friends.  Sure, it could be argued away that Jane had never been through a battle, at least not in New Mexico.  He would call that little more than a tantrum thrown by an overgrown kid who was forced to question all the things he had once believed to be true.

 

London on the other hand, while Cassian knew that occasion had no doubt been terrifying to the small astrophysicist, to Dacia as well probably, but it would struggle to be classed as more than a skirmish.  Having talked to the Jedi about the matter before, Cassian had been able to comfort himself that Dacia would be able to keep her head about her, she had at least recognised the situation for what it was.  Namely a power-hungry group not being able to understand that they had been long since left behind and struggling to try and gain traction against a faction that had previously defeated them.

 

Dacia had confided that at the point she wasn’t comfortable with outing herself, solely because she didn’t particularly relish the prospect of answering uncomfortable questions about who she was and what she was capable of.  Cassian sometimes wondered if there was any special brand of reasoning that went into that decision, was it possible that Dacia had a premonition of some sort about what was lurking behind S.H.I.E.L.D?  Or at least as much as something could lurk behind an already shadowy governmental intelligence agency?  Either way, it served the group well that Dacia frequently gave into her paranoia.  Cassian imagined that it wouldn’t be fun feeling as if he had to run from whole swathes of an agency that already was particularly fond of being told now.

 

In any case, the fact that Dacia had chosen now to step forward could be puzzling; it didn’t seem to serve any greater purpose now that they would have to contend with shining a bloody big spotlight on their business.  Jane had managed to inspire a tremendous of loyalty in the woman, something which he privately thought was odd considering some the most ahh questionable things he had heard the woman say.  Dacia was fond of the woman, so for all of Cassian’s bewilderment, it looked like they were going to have to help the woman out of whatever tight spot she had managed to find herself in, no matter the trouble they found for themselves.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Following the woman worriedly, Cassian flicked an inquisitive gaze towards a startled looking Jyn, he found himself wondering in the woman had any idea what had troubled Dacia so much.  Seeing the woman only shrug her shoulders at him, Cassian crossed the room to stand at one of the computers in the room and focused his attention back onto Dacia.  It was unlikely that what the woman was about to tell them could be anything less than important, especially important as it pertained to their upcoming actions.

 

Glancing over at a panicked Jyn, Cassian raised an eyebrow as he wondered whether the woman knew more about what was going on.  Jyn simply shrugged at the man, looking like she had just come out of a fugue type state.  He knew that it was likely that the woman had been poring over some of the data in front of her.  Idly wondering to himself if it was possible that the group would have an opportunity to look through some of the things she had found.  Casting his eyes over at the woman across from him, Cassian realised that it now as if he wouldn’t get any answers, not while Dacia was looking so agitated and stressed.

 

Deciding that he could hold in his wonderings any longer, he cleared his throat and asked the Artificial Intelligence what had been found; it didn’t look as if the woman would be able to provide any.  Not at the very moment in any case.

 

“BODHI what did you find out about Jane?  Is she in any trouble that we need to be concerned about?” Cassian asked calmly, knowing that he should have to remain calm because it didn’t seem as if Dacia would be able to keep her head.

 

“Cassian, I have been going through some of the data I can find about Dr Foster, and it seems as if she in some trouble.  Or at least she has the potential to be in for some trouble.” BODHI’s voice calmly told Cassian.

 

“Alright, slow it down for those of us in the back BODHI, what do you mean?” Cassian asked, looking worried.

 

“Sir, he is correct, it seems that Ms Erso is correct, when we started on this process, when we took on the ex-Avengers from the R.A.F.T prison, we attracted the notice of one Natalia Alianovna Romanova AKA Designation: Black Widow.  So far I may not be able to tell how we may have been able to trip her attention.” K-2SO started.

 

“Right, but that tells us next to nothing about how we can scoop her up, is there anything here that we can use if we want to find her sometime this century?” Cassian told the pair.

 

“I have been working a bit further on that, and it seems as if we should begin thinking below the radar.  I have been going through some of the footage we have so far been able to grab off the woman, and she seems to fall back on the same line of attack near constantly.  Namely that she go-to move is to attack Dr Stark and his supposed ego, which is slightly erroneous for several reasons.  Namely that while it can’t be argued that the man does not possess a breath taking ego, but in any case, his ego is not as big as hers.  From what I have been able to find about the man, he is remarkably good at what he does, so it is more likely to be something that she takes comfort in.  If she can accuse someone else of having a big ego.” K-2SO started.

 

“Have you got anything you want to bring up, or is this more of your farting around.  That isn’t particularly helpful to us.” Cassian impatiently tried to move the pilot Ai further along.

 

Jyn looked worried and crossed over one the computers that BODHI was showing some of the information on.  Her eyes started moving quickly from one side to the other as took in some of the information shown on the blinking in front of her.  Glancing over at an agitated Dacia who was pacing back and forth and trying not to chew on her thumbnail.  It was a losing battle for the woman, Jyn could see as the woman lifted her hand away from her mouth with a scowl.

 

It seemed as if the woman had realised she had gotten a hangnail, not something that was particularly painful but could be a pain in the ass to deal with.

 

“Okay guys, we need to get back to work here, BODHI were you able to find anything on how she expects to be able to attack Dr Foster?” Dacia tried to get the small meeting back on track.

 

“Is this intercepted communique accurate BODHI?  If what I am reading here is true, it looks as if the woman is expecting to be able to point any enemies or those with a marked enmity towards Lord Thor at the small scientist lady.  Reading between the lines, it doesn’t seem as if she knows that the two have broken up.  She could be simply clutching at straws while she tries to work out how to get back on her feet.  It’s also entirely likely that the woman is simply reaching the end of her rope and is acting in more and more erratic ways as she tries to make sense of her current situation.  It’s likely that she is acting like this precisely because she is having difficulty working out what her next move should be.  It might be difficult for us to pin down her motives simply because she doesn’t completely understand them for herself.” Jyn mentioned to the other two as she read through the pertinent details on the monitor in front of her.

 

“That’s all fascinating, but is there anything we can use to counter some of her moves?  I won’t let Jane be put into more trouble, simply because I don’t understand my remit.” Cassian drawled.

 

“Give me some time, and I can plot out what her moves are likely to be.  We may be better served though, for the time being in any case simply taking Dr Foster into protective custody.  Somewhere we can be sure that she won’t fall into any danger.” Jyn mused, pushing at a few of the buttons on the keyboard that was on the table in front of her.

 

“We don’t have that kind of time.  Now, it seems as we are just going to have to march in and take Jane, you know as well as anyone that if anything happens to her, I won’t be able to forgive myself.” Dacia muttered frantically.

 

“We understand that, but for now we have to be careful about how we begin to move into position.  If anything should even run the risk of overplaying our hand, then we don’t want to get caught between two bigger powers than us, especially if we don’t understand all of the rules.” Cassian cautioned, wanting to make sure that his friend knew that they would have to act calmly and rationally before they even ran the risk of running in half-cocked without a plan.

 

“He’s right, as it stands we don’t even completely understand what lies behind SI, why were we even called in?  They shouldn’t even know who we are, never mind know enough to get into contact with us.  Do you want to work this problem from the top?” Jyn cautiously advocated.

 

“Right now, I don’t imagine that is the biggest problem we have to face.  Can we do it after we have gotten to Jane?  I don’t need to point out that the woman is my ‘weak spot’ right?  It concerns me that someone could know enough about how we operate to know to go after the woman.” Dacia sighed, her hand wandering into her pockets, pulling out a small bouncy ball.

 

As she stared at the other two, trying to impress on them their current situation she tossed the small ball between her hands.  Attempting to hide an eye roll when she noted the two others, sharing a conspiratorial glance.  Dacia idly thought to herself that some days it seemed as if running the spaceship with total control seemed like a good idea.

 

“What is it, we can’t just let the woman hang out, not while we could be could something to protect the woman?” Dacia forced through gritted teeth.

 

“I assess that if we leave the woman where she is, then something bad could happen to her.  But I do not understand why you feel so much blind loyalty to someone who likely does not share the same thing with you.  It is also my assessment that humans are rather strange, why do you insist on continuing friendship with this woman who has been known to ignore you in the past?  At home, anyone who was not immediately serviceable was ruthlessly exterminated” the cold logic of K-2SO shook the small group at some of the small efficacy the robot was capable of.  At the same though it reminded them if they had forgotten the background and origin of the android.

 

“K-2SO you are no longer with the Empire please cease these thoughts immediately.  It is my experience that humans can be the most frustratingly loyal people.  It’s likely that even if Dacia did not have a background as a Jedi Warrior, then she would have likely shared some co-dependent relationship with Dr Foster.” BODHI reminded the other AI gently sounding like it was an argument the two had shared many times in the past.

 

Knowing the two as she did, Dacia realised that it probably wasn’t the first time the two had had this discussion.

 

“Hmm” K-2SO hummed, sending a small thrill through Dacia as she once again realised how good at her work she was.

 

“Right now, that isn’t important.  We need to start getting to work on how we can move forward, have you put in the coordinates to Jane?  We need to get to her before it is too late for us to anything.” Dacia asked in an even tone.

 

“Yes, I have put the coordinates on the ship, we are about to enter into hyperdrive please brace yourselves.  For now, though you need to be ready to enter into a potential battle situation.” BODHI told them calmly.

 

Cassian glanced out of the window from the spaceship and noted with a kind of idle curiosity the blurred lights outside the window.  He knew from being familiar with both this spaceship and travelling with the Resistance that it was simply time and space beginning to fold together.  Jyn could probably tell him even more, that woman’s curiosity knew no bounds, she would probably be able to provide a more scientific and factually accurate account of what he could see happening.  For now, though, he was more comfortable indulging his desire for simple, easy to understand explanations.  It was at times like this when he found it more comfortable for him to fall back on some of the old suspicions and stories he had learned at his parent’s feet.

 

“We should be there in five minutes, brace for impact,” K-2SO told the small group sounding distracted.

 

Jyn braced her knees, wanting to be ready to move.  With a quiet _shunk_ noise, the spaceship began to shake.  Chancing a glance over at Dacia, Jyn could ee that the woman looked as if she was beginning to prepare herself.  For what though, Jyn wasn’t sure, she could easily see that the woman was grabbing the small metallic cylinder that she knew was concealing her lightsaber.

 

Cassian had moved towards the tin double doored locker tucked into the side of the room they were standing in and pulled the doors open.  Humming a quiet tune under his breath, he pulled out two blasters and tucked them at his waist.  Now wasn’t a time for him to play cautious, he wasn’t completely sure of what he would be likely to be stepping into.  Taking a further two blasters, he passed them to Jyn who tucked them at the holsters that hung from her armpits.

 

Humming to himself, his rubbed his fingers together while he took out another blaster and tossed it to a frowning Dacia.  He wasn’t sure why Dacia didn’t particularly like blasters, but he imagined that the woman didn’t like the barbaric simplicity of the weapon.  To Cassian, however, he felt that he couldn’t take on a higher moral standpoint, simply because he knew that he had always had to survive.

 

The spaceship shuddered to a halt, and Dacia nodded at the other two, throwing a camouflaging robe around her as she left the room.  Jyn shared a brief look of consternation with Cassian before copying Dacia’s motions and leaving the room close behind the woman.

 

_WHOOSH_

As always moving from the muted, calming light in the corridors of the spaceship, to the bright and harsh lighting of mid-afternoon in the New Mexico desert.  Taking a beat to allow her eyes to adjust to the new light she prepared to move.  Sharing a brief look with Cassian, she nodded once to direct the man into motion, while glancing over at Jyn.  As one the three moved into position, knowing that they would have to move as one.

 

Splitting up from the other two, Cassian made a quick decision and moving quietly through the surrounding area.  Keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings as he carefully made his way, while he carefully checked that the area for any obvious adjustment.  So far, it didn’t look as if he was going to be able to spot anything that wasn’t as it should be.  He couldn’t spot anything until he reached the furthermost spot from the small garage that Dr Foster still liked to do all of her work from.

 

He was aware that Dr Foster had been told to build up a better kind of security system, at the very least she had been told to take better precautions for her safety.  He knew enough to know that Dacia at the very least had pressed the woman to adopt better principles for her security.  She had at least been helped by a bemused Dr Stark, who had told Dr Foster to adopt some small measures.  Dr Stark might not have completely known about the presence of Dacia, but he had known what kind of crazies were out there.

 

Jyn had spilt to head in the other direction; she was checking the most obvious signs that might indicate that the small woman was in some danger.  She ran a cursory eye over some of the security apparatus and felt her blood run cold when she realised that it looked as if the standard equipment had been tampered with.  Knowing the woman the way she did, Jyn wasn’t comfortable stating for the record whether or not the woman had chaffed with some of the measures and started to alter things around to suit her.  Goodness knows that the woman had a rather irritating habit of wandering off.  Not being able to come up with some satisfactory answer for herself, Jyn hissed to herself and darted back towards the lab, wanting to make sure that her friends were safe.

 

Unbeknownst to her friends, Dacia was slowly approaching the lab where she was sure that she would find Jane puttering with a few of her machines.  Listening carefully to the sound of silence around her, Dacia heard the soft sounds of clanking and whirring as the computers continued to work overtime.  Not wanting to spare a glance at the computers, she knew enough from experience to guess that Jane had been running analysis at the night sky the previous night.  She hid a smile as she thought to herself, that at least it seemed as if nothing had changed, Jane still found it to be incredibly interesting to have her head in the star and her feet on the ground.

 

A frown momentarily crossed her face, when she realised that she hadn’t yet spotted the astrophysicist.  Shouldn’t the woman be in the lab?  Unless things had dramatically changed in the time since Dacia had worked for the astrophysicist, she shouldn’t be too far.  Halting her movements briefly while she thought briefly of where her friend was likely to be.  Listening to the sounds of the former garage turned lab closely, she frowned briefly, when she realised that she could hear sounds coming from the kitchen space.

 

Cocking her head to the side while she listened, trying to work out what the sounds meant, she shook her head and crossed the space.  Swiftly crossing the small room to reach the small kitchenette just off the side.  Swinging past the large lab tables, and trying to frown when she wondered exactly why the diminutive scientist had felt a pressing need to own lab tables.  Dacia realised that the woman didn’t seem to do a lot of experiments, but then when she was working with the woman, her mind was often aimed in another direction.

 

Most notably, on whether or not she should worry about whether or not the woman would somehow discover the truth about Darcy/Dacia.

 

It was a close thing, and Dacia could remember that there were some days where she didn’t feel 100% sure on whether or not she could that the woman had no clue about Dacia.  Goodness knows that there were days when she felt like she had tripped up and forgotten the answers to some long forgotten test, that she had given herself away somehow let some something slip when she wasn’t paying attention.

 

For Dacia, she felt like things had become even dicier when Thor had arrived, she had to be careful that she didn’t accidentally let something slip when she wasn’t paying attention.  At least with Jane, she would be able to brush it off as being part of her flight intern’s quirkiness.  Thor _may_ have been able to pick up something that Dacia made a passing comment about.  Cassian and Jyn had panicked when Dacia had reported that they had company suddenly in the shape of some random homeless dude claiming to be a Space Prince.

 

Dacia had only managed to keep her cool when she realised that it seemed as if the guy had been telling the truth.  Suddenly, things had been rocketed into altogether trickier terrain.  Dacia had never been so glad that the guy was as self-involved as he had been when he hadn’t started nosing around Dacia.  She would claim that the only reason she had opted to help the guy get out of S.H.I.E.L.D custody was that Erik was giving her the stressed father figure vibes.

 

It was a good thing, she reflected, that before anyone could begin to dig into her records that the giant space robot had hit earth.  It was handy that the impending threat of fiery death had sufficiently wiped the memory of the odd intern from their minds.  Afterwards, Jane was too thankful to be alive to go over some of the memories of her bizarrely agile and calm intern to begin asking questions.  S.H.I.E.L.D. for their part hadn’t spotted Dacia’s actions during the battle and had simply focused on keeping the incident hushed.  If they had, Dacia realised that she would probably be faced with an unfortunate choice of whether or not she wanted to be a lab experiment.

 

She had gotten the lecture of her life from a worried Jyn and Cassian for not informing them during the battle exactly what was going on.  BODHI had been suspiciously quiet until he confided to Dacia later that he was glad the woman wasn’t dead.  That was something for her to consider, up until that point she hadn’t been sure what the Artificial Intelligence thought of her.

 

K-2SO, on the other hand, had affirmed what Dacia had long suspected that the Artificial Intelligence thought of her, namely that he didn’t think much of the Jedi.  It was interesting to know that the Artificial Intelligence felt as if his loyalty was always to Cassian first and foremost.  The Artificial Intelligence had balefully informed them of the low odds of success and continued health if they had marched in to support Dacia.  Scowling a little at the memory of the Artificial Intelligence’s words, Dacia remembered wondering exactly how far she would have to go to secure the Artificial Intelligence’s loyalty.

 

She knew that it was going to had to be something big, Jyn still shared an antagonistic relationship with the Artificial Intelligence.

 

Shaking her head as she near-silently made her way into the kitchenette.  Looking at the back of Dr Foster, she imperceptibly sighed, it didn’t look as if the woman had come to a lot of harm.  Wincing when she realised that she wouldn’t be able to tell if the woman was okay until she turned to face Dacia.

 

Watching as the woman, made herself a pot of coffee, at least it didn’t look as if the woman had been hurt.  Coughing lightly to draw the woman’s attention to her, Dacia watched with a light hint of amusement coating her emotions as the woman whirled to face her.  Peering at the woman’s face, Dacia could see pronounced evidence of large bags underneath Jane’s eyes.  Becoming concerned she began to cluck.

 

“Jane I got your message, I came as soon as I was able, what’s wrong?  When was the last night you got a good nights sleep?  What was the last full meal you got?”

 

Dacia inspected the woman closely, not liking how the woman’s already baggy clothes were hanging off her already rail thin body.

 

“You know, I didn’t think it possible to miss your irritating fussing, but I’m fine.  So, I’ve been missing a bit of sleep and maybe a few meals, but I’ve done the same thing before.  What’s the point in fussing about it?” Jane dryly remarked.

 

“At this point?  It matters because you won’t be at your full health and capacity if you haven’t gotten a full eight hours sleep the night before and a proper meal!  What was the last proper meal you ate?  And no, before you say Pop Tarts, you know those things aren’t a good nutritional meal.” Dacia lectured the woman, having to fight the urge to pull her hair in frustration.

 

At this point, the two woman were interrupted when a harried Cassian marched in.  Running his eyes over the scientist, Jane rolled her eyes when she saw that the man still opted to march around like he was still in a military.  The trio may never have completely confided in her all the details about their previous lives, but Jane could see that something still taxed them a tremendous amount.  Becoming more than a little irritated when the man was still ignoring Jane in favour of whispering harshly into Darcy’s ears.

 

A second later, Jyn rushed and barely having time to talk to a confused Jane, she also started to whisper at Darcy.  She might not know the other, as well as she, knew Darcy, but she did know enough to be able to guess that something must have happened to make them run about like headless chickens.

 

“Alright.  Jane how you feel about come to live on our spaceship for a while?” Darcy gently asked, eying the scientist like she was facing off with an angry snake.

 

“What now?  Why should I leave here?” Jane puffed up angrily.

 

“Look, Jane, we have gotten some credible intel of an imminent threat on your life.  We can tell you the rest of the spaceship, but for now, we need to move.” Jyn calmly told the woman.

 

Jyn had chosen to speak because it looked as if Dacia was ready for a fight, she felt that she needed to head off that possibility quick.  Nodding at the two, she split away from them.

 

“Jane, Jyn is right, we need to take you onto our spaceship where we know that you will be safe.  We don’t have a lot of time to discuss, not here, not while anyone could hear us, but please come with us.” Cassian told the woman, his eyes darting around the room as he spoke.

 

At that point, Jyn came out of the small bedroom with a small bag securely clutched in her hands.  Jane looked helplessly at Jyn and hesitantly nodded her assent.  She was aware that the trio wouldn’t steer her wrong in a potential life or death situation, she would give them the benefit of the doubt.  For now.  She could always demand answers later.

 

The trio were able to work together, even if they after they were doing something that they hadn’t previously worked together, they were able to work together.  They knew each other’s moves after a long time working together.  Arranged into a small semi circle with Jane stood in the center of them.

 

Cassian made his way carefully across the room his eyes darting around the room as he moved carefully through the rest of the room.  The small group moved cautiously from the room, wanting to make sure that nothing could happen to the small scientist in the middle.

 

When the three had entered the spaceship, Jyn peeled off from the small group and tapped through a few of the buttons and watched, as she had done a few hundred time before.  When the door closed, Dacia nodded and briefly ran away from the group to perform a few tasks.

 

_WHOOSH_

“Whoa, do you guys know what that was about?” Scott wavered on his feet as the spaceship began to make clanking sounds around him.

 

“That weird noise earlier, I have no idea what it could be.” Clint dismissively told the panicked man.

 

“I wonder if they’re hurrying somewhere or if this weird place is simply settling round us,” Sam remarked.

 

“Nah, it doesn’t seem like that could be it, I hope they aren’t going after anyone else.  They’ve already got everyone on your side of this whole debacle, so who else would they have to go after?” Clint coldly growled.

 

“No, they haven’t, I didn’t tell you guys, but Natasha helped me at the airport?” Steve quietly told them.

 

“WHAT POSSIBLE REASON WOULD SHE HAVE HAD TO HELP US?! SHE FOUGHT US.  SHE FOUGHT ME!  Wanda told me –“ Clint began to roar, once again losing his grip on his temper.

 

“No, she helped us escape from the Cat Man, she electrocuted him for us.  What did Little Red tell you to do?” James asked, his voice sounding cracked, almost as if he had gone a long time without using it.

 

“She told me to hit harder.  She told me that Nat wasn’t holding anything back when she fought me, so I shouldn’t hold back when it came to her.  Why would she tell me to do that?  Nat has always been my friend WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST PISS AWAY OUR FRIENDSHIP AND OVER WHAT?!” Clint began to roar, unable to keep his temper.

 

“And you thought that was a good idea?  Weren’t you guys friends?  Or is that some bullshit spoon fed to Avengers fans by the propaganda machine?” Scott dryly remarked.

 

“No, that was real, I saved her life a few times, and she saved my life a few times, why the hell did I get involved in this?  Was there ever a good reason for this?” Clint asked.

 

At this point, perhaps to stop them from beginning to lose their temper with one another, a change was made in the individual cells along with the outer portion of the cells.  A large TV monitor dropped from the screen and began to flicker to life.

 

When the monitors flickered to life, they were met with the sight of one of the main people onboard.  Clint momentarily frowned, as he began to think through who the woman could be.  He thought that it might be Daria, or whatever you called the woman who had interviewed him.  Again he felt like he had to wonder if he recognised the woman from before.  Or did he simply recognise the woman because she had implied that she had previously known the man?

 

“Your questions are about to be answered Designation: Hawkeye, we have a little video to play you guys.” The screen began to show them a screen of a dark road

 

“Guys, why are we looking at a road?” Scott asked confused.

 

Steve frowned when he realised that he recognised the road, wondering what those people were beginning to play at.  Gulping, he wondered how bad it was about to get for him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane tries to find out what is happening, the gang try to puzzle out the motives of Natasha.

Jane blinked as Darcy disappeared through the spaceship, she frowned and looked between an ungainly Jyn and fidgeting Cassian.  Not even bothering to hide a smirk when she realised that she still managed to make the normally stoic man awkward.  Raising her eyebrow at the pair, she wondered what exactly had happened to make them decide that she had to be picked up, fairly quickly.  Tapping her foot up and down, she decided that she wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

 

“What happened guys?  I wasn’t in any trouble, would you like to explain yourselves, because I think I deserve some answers, you had the best hope that I wasn’t just dragged away from my home.” Jane spoke harshly.

 

The other two glanced at each other, gesturing towards one another, almost as if they were arguing among themselves who should answer the simple questions.  Jane cleared her throat, wanting an answer immediately.

 

“Right, we owe you answers about that, but shall we go and find Dacia, she should be there for the explanation,” Cassian told the woman, sighing.  Noticing that the women looked annoyed, Jyn, in particular, was biting her lips, Cassian felt that he had to wonder what the woman had spotted.  Jane for herself was beginning to look even more agitated, Cassian sighed as he realised that from Jane’s perspective, the whole thing probably looked slightly damning and confusing.

 

Jyn gave a massive sigh that depressed her shoulders once, she would have to hold some of her questions, it seemed as if Darcy for one hadn’t been told the whole story.  Jane could hold her irritation a while longer, even if she considered that it would only make her feel better to continue getting more and more impatient – hopefully, it would lead to her getting a few more answers.

 

Following the other two through the spaceship, Jane briefly held off on the feeling of awe that was crawling up her body.  She felt that it was more important for her to keep a tight leash on her awe, lest she gets distracted from demanding answers.  Something that she honestly felt she deserved the answers.

 

Darcy had previously confided in her a little about the spaceship, before.  It might have taken her some time for her to confide in her boss, she had explained to the woman exactly what had happened to make the woman so hesitant to tell Jane what was going on.  It was something that she might not completely understand, but she felt like she could understand why someone might be more than a little cautious approach as to who they felt they could trust.  It might be different, but Jane had never been sure as to who she could begin to trust after she won her Nobel Prize. 

 

She could well remember, all the time she had been shot down as a legitimate scientist, only to be suddenly welcomed as a sort of genius, all of them licking around her not wanting to be left behind.  She wasn’t sure whether or not she would ever be able to forget the time that she had been brushed aside, cast in the role of embarrassment on a scale with the tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists.

 

Shaking her head again, when she felt that she had to remember where she was, she could be easily distracted at times and right not felt like just the time when she had to pay even more attention.  No point in getting distracted over the gleaming silver corridors, not when she felt like she was owed some answers.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Entering into the small central computer nodule, she looked around her, as she always did when she was faced with the gleaming silver workstations.  Though she was aware that some of the data she could potentially get off the computers in here could outstrip anything she could easily get on her own.  Maybe if she played her cards right with some of what she was no doubt about to learn, she might be granted access for even a small period.

 

“What was that about?” Jane asked Darcy, having noticed that the woman was standing over one of the computers flicking buttons perfunctorily.

 

“Right, we should probably explain some of our most recent actions where they pertain to you, huh?” Darcy asked when she quietly spoke.

 

“That would be appreciated, yes.” Jane decisively nodded, feeling glad that now she was about to get some answers to the things that were beginning to bother her.

 

“Well, this might take some time, so please hold all your questions to the very end, I will attempt to explain all of this.  First I’m assuming that you have heard of the Sokovia Accords yes?  We were tasked by Ms Potts to find and bring the former Avengers to justice, mainly because it didn’t seem as if they were likely to face any.  Given the way, they were summarily thrown into the RAFT prison after made us suspect that we were right in this line of thinking.  The rest of the world couldn’t be sure where they were, and it didn’t look as if they were going to face any court, Secretary Ross was not one was known for colouring within the lines, even on his best days.  He was the one who was mostly responsible for the manhunt that Dr Banner had to flee from after the accident that brought about Designation: The Hulk.  We took them from that prison, and at the same time, we managed to scoop up Designation (Former): Captain America and Designation: Winter Soldier.  While we have been playing perfect hosts to them, we have of course been interviewing them; trying to understand what exactly drove them to those measures.  With me so far?” Darcy checked.

 

Jane barely had enough time to nod her head in confused acquiesce, before she had a chance to open her mouth and begin to speak Darcy continued.

 

“Okay, so you are caught up on that.  We haven’t been able to pin them down to any clear motivation, from what we can see, it looks as if they were all just following Rogers’ lead and not thinking through their actions.  So it looks like they have gotten themselves in the shit, with no real idea of why they are there.  It’s troubling.  While that was going on, K-2SO was able to find reliable intel that you were in trouble, so as soon as we were finished with the interviews, we wanted to be able to travel to assess your situation.  When we were there, I’m guessing that Cassian and Jyn saw something that they didn’t particularly like, would you like to explain guys?” Darcy frowned, looking between Cassian and Jyn for answers.

 

Cassian jumped a little as if electrocuted.  He had zoned out again during Dacia’s words, a small frown playing on his face.  Going through his mind were some of the things that he felt had troubled him enough to make him want to move Jane.  Even though he felt bothered enough to want an immediate move of the woman, he felt that he couldn’t be 100% sure if it was a threat.  He could only remind himself that this was one of the situations where it was better to be safe than sorry, wasn’t that was Dacia was fond of saying?

 

Jyn glanced over at Cassian looking even more unbalanced about what she was about to say.  Jyn felt as if she had seen something which didn’t make a lot of sense, for one thing, she didn’t even think that she felt comfortable enough to state what she had seen.  In the smallest sense, she felt more than a little conflicted about whether or not she had seen was a real threat.  For now, though, she felt that she had to tell someone about what she had spotted.  Curling a single lock of hair behind her ear, she shifted her weight from one foot to the other and tried to pick some of the words she would have to begin speaking.

 

“Look, I don’t know if it’s a threat _now_ but judging on what I have seen so far, I didn’t feel completely comfortable with even the slightest possibility that we could leave Jane there.  That is not to say that there was a threat, for now, though we can keep a better watch on what is happening back with Jane.  But I don’t know what Cassian may or may not have spotted, but I know enough to realise that what I spotted wasn’t going to be something that I could immediately recognise as being part of the original area.  It didn’t seem as if it was something that I could state matched with what I have known about the surrounding area.” Jyn sighed, thinking through some of what she had to say.

 

“Jyn, dear you are talking through your hat again!” Dacia groaned.

 

“No, no I know exactly what she is struggling to verbalise, but what I spotted, it didn’t seem like normal paths that I was able to find.  What I did spot though, were tracks, which by itself are not _that_ surprising, we can expect to find things that don’t seem to be sitting right.  In any case, I found what looked to be a small lookout den.  I thought that if anyone had bothered to set up a lookout perch, especially in such an out of the way spot.  I figured that it looked as if someone was keeping an eye on Dr Foster.  I couldn’t remember if you mentioned whether or not there was anything providing security to the woman.” Cassian remarked thoughtfully.

 

“Okay, Jyn is what he is saying true?” Dacia double checked, not wanting to miss a step at even this stage.

 

“Yeah, that tracks with what I saw, BODHI was there anything that you have been able to find that might point us in the correct direction?” Jyn answered.

 

“So far, while I have been able to find some evidence that Designation: Black Widow may have lost her temper and started to plan around the possibility of something happening to Dr Foster.  Something which she could use to her credit.” BODHI’s smooth modulated voice rang out.

 

“Still here guys, but what would even be the purpose of her attacking me?  Doesn't it seem like there would be anything that she could use to make herself look good?  I’m a scientist, not an agent!” Jane reminded the small group.

 

“Dr Foster, I can state with near certainty that the woman intended to make herself look good by defending you.  She was likely hoping to use the small fact that she could defend you against threats as a weapon against Dr Stark.  No doubt, she intended to make herself look good in Lord Thor’s eyes if you started to thank her for defending you.” K-2SO reminded the small group.

 

Jyn tried to hide the fact that she was rolling her eyes, she found it to be predictable for the Andriod to become short-tempered when he wasn’t always the centre of attention.  It still astounded Jyn that the Andriod was an all-powerful Artificial Intelligence, still found it so easy to give into his childish side.  She had briefly wondered whether or not; the Artificial Intelligence was always going to carry on attempting to put her down.  She still wondered from time to time whether or not the Andriod distrusted anyone that he would no doubt have to share Cassian’s attention with.  Or was it simply because he believed that his methods were better than the womans’?

 

Oh well, questions for another day she surmised.  With a short, sharp shake of he head, she focused her attention back onto the room in front of her.

 

“That doesn’t make any sense.  Thor and I broke up, how could she even begin to surmise that would make any difference to the woman.  Why would Thor even want to break so much as sweat to bother about saving me?” Jane asked incredulously.

 

“The Artificial Intelligence might be one to something here.  She might be still operating under the mistaken belief that there was no trouble between you too.  It wasn’t an acrimonious split though?” Darcy peered at Jane, chewing on her bottom lip as she thought some of the easier problems for them to deal with.

 

“No, it was fairly mature, I understand that he is a Prince and can’t be with me at all times, but I couldn’t live without knowing whether or not I was dating someone.  You were with us for the whole length of our great romance; I didn’t want to hold him back.  Besides it probably would have just annoyed me too much if he had started to hand around all the time.  I am not about that life; I need some space!” Jane shrugged, still not feeling completely sure where Romanoff would get any of her intel from.

 

“It does seem slightly more likely that when the two of you were dating Thor spent all his time talking you up to his fellow Avengers.  It’s possible that he was trying to reassure the others of his continued intention to come back to Earth, or as he put it Midgard.  He would have no doubt felt that he held an even bigger connection, then he may not have gotten as many reminders of his role here.” Cassian remarked.

 

“That is a good point, but a few days do not make a star-crossed relationship, I have my work that I would like to be getting on with, I don’t want to be known as the kooky scientist dating an alien.  I’d rather be known for my theories, not who I was supposedly bumping uglies with!” Jane threw her hands up in the air in protest, her voice rising in pitch as she continued to speak.

 

“Calm, okay, K-2SO can you get into the archives where any video with Thor might show us where she got the impression that there was, even more, going on behind the scenes than there was?  We need to be able to move ahead of this?” Cassian tried to pacify Jane by holding his hands up in a conciliatory gesture.

 

“I will try to get into the files, it might be tricky though, we have, after all, heard that Dr Stark has a technologically advanced Artifical Intelligence.” K-2SO sounded as if he was frowning.

 

It is was even possible for an Artifical Intelligence to frown that is.

 

“Oh but come on K, if anyone can break through any firewall that occurs to the technology of this century to put it will be you!  Aren’t you always telling us how superior you are?” Jyn cajoled the Artificial Intelligence.

 

Cassian looked over at the woman, wondering what had happened to make Jyn change her mind about his Andriod’s capabilities involved.  He was well aware that their relationship seemed to be made up of each of them trying to one-up each other.  Sighing and exchanging a tired glance with Dacia, he wondered at what point did he have to be to feel completely fed up and hacked off with the two?  At this point, the question wasn’t even keeping him up at night; it was more of resignation that it genuinely didn’t seem like anything was about to change for them.

 

Would a bit of silence and a cooling balm for his frazzled nerves be too much to ask?  It probably would be.

 

“Okay, moving on from that, tell us when you manage to get any answers for us K-2SO, I have a feeling that we will need answers as soon as we can get them.” Dacia sighed shaking her head.

 

“Very well, allow me to concentrate here, and I shall hopefully be able to make a little headway.” K-2SO’s prim and proper voice told the assembled group.

 

With K-2SO’s words, the small group lapsed into silence.  Having heard her computer beep at her, Dacia swung around again and started to look through some of the files the computer spat up on screen.

 

“Okay, so after we took you in Jane, I wanted to show the former members of the Avengers some of what happened in Siberia, I didn’t particularly think it was a good idea if we allowed them to continue down the path of blaming Dr Stark for everything.  They need to start learning to think for themselves, and I wanted to be able to jolt them to the notion that Designation (Former): Captain America might not always be telling them the truth.” Dacia started to explain, waving her hands around as she did so.

 

“We haven’t shown them that footage yet?” Cassian remarked, crossing his arms over his chest.

 

“No, not yet, it took me some time to be comfortable with how much I had scrubbed it up.  I also wanted to check whether or not Dr Stark would be comfortable with us showing the footage.” Jyn sighed, feeling like she had a massive amount of work ahead of her.

 

“Did you get an answer on that?  It seems to me that the guy can’t easily speak for what he wants, given that he hasn’t yet woken up.” Cassian checked.

 

“Ms Potts seems to be pettier over the thing that I am comfortable, admitting, in a reply she told me that she wants the Avengers we have still locked up to feel guilty.  I have got to say; I am little impressed with that facet of the woman’s personality.” Jyn muttered, impressed.

 

Cassian whistled long and low, thinking quietly to himself.  Jane’s eyes darted between the three before she decided to speak.

 

“Wait, what footage and why is Dr Stark still not awake?  What happened, what am I missing here guys?” Jane asked confused.

 

“Oh, so much, but you see after the complete fiasco at the airport, Dr Stark managed to follow both Designation (Former): Captain America and Designation: Winter Soldier to Siberia.  You see Designation: Winter Soldier had been framed for blowing up a special UN signing, and that precipitated the fighting.  At least, on ‘Team Iron Mans’ side, it didn’t seem as if Designation (Former): Captain America was particularly interested in following things like law and procedure.  He felt that he had to do what most of us would do for our friends, namely stick his nose in where it didn’t belong.” Dacia explained, feeling a little shocked that she had managed to forget the woman they had previously had to rescue.

 

“You see the Sokovia Accords were designed in part to protect the ordinary person from ‘Supers’ and while some of the addendums were slightly more invasive than would be liked.  Namely any prospect where the Government would be able to track down people with powers, possibly even people who used their intellect to fight.  While it looked like Designation (Former): Captain America was ostensibly fighting for freedom and for the Sokovia Accords to be struck down, he was fighting for his friend.” Cassian continued for Dacia.

 

“Wouldn’t someone have caught onto this though?” Jane doubtfully asked.

 

“We would have thought so too, except that he was still operating with the phrase ‘Loose Lips Sink Ships’ in the back of his mind, so he didn’t pull anyone into his confidence.  He was reactionary than pragmatic, and because of his legend and role in the Second World War, nobody thought to question him, or even to challenge him.  The only person who was comfortable enough challenging him was Dr Stark, and we know now that he was willing to push away Dr Stark.  We can’t be sure whether or not it was the guy’s ego that made him think that making such a decision was a smart and rational thing to do.  To cut a long story short, the three ended up fighting in Siberia, and it took me a while to work out _why_ they were fighting.” Jyn took up the explanation.

 

“Jyn was able to find proof that they were fighting because they were shown a video of Designation: Winter Soldier assassinating his parents.  Understandably Dr Stark freaked out and went to throw a punch at Designation: Winter Soldier before he realised that it seemed as if Designation (Former): Captain America had known.  Instead of holding the guy and not letting him become violent, the fight escalated to a point where it was no holds barred.  At least, it didn’t look as if Designation (Former): Captain America or Designation: Winter Soldier were holding back.” Cassian explained further.

 

“For one thing it doesn’t seem as if the two were ready and willing to be calm and rational, Dr Foster.  In fact, we have watched the videos, and it didn’t look like the men were holding anything back, it looked like a no holds barred fight.” Jyn told the woman.

 

“You do seem to be forgetting that Stark has access to the Iron Man prothesis, understand that while I do not follow weapons systems, it’s not something that gives me much interest.  I do suspect though that if Stark had simply wanted to end that fight, then Captain America and Winter Soldier would be nothing more than a speck on the wall.  I am not a card-carrying member of the Tony Stark Defense Squad, but it is curious that people have found it so easy to discount Stark, simply because of how he grew up.” Jane remarked thoughtfully.

 

“You may have a point, but for now we need to understand what exactly was going through those people’s head.  As Spanish poet George Santayana is often quoted as saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’.  So, we were wondering if it was possible that they got sucked into a type of cult of personality with regards to the man?” Dacia checked.

 

“It is possible, even though I didn’t grow up in America, I did live here for a few years in my early teens, and it was shoved down our throats that the great Captain America could do no wrong.  Do you think that the other Avengers or at least the people you have locked up here, bought into that whole thing?” Jane remarked.

 

“It’s possible, especially if they weren’t used to critical thinking.  I can sort of understand why Designation: Hawkeye and Designation: Falcon may have bought into it.  They are soldiers, and shadowy organisations where you aren’t sure of their motives may not have been completely outside of the realm of possibility.  Designation: Scarlet Witch intrigues me though, mostly because I cannot for the life of me see what she hoped to gain by publicly throwing in her lot with Designation (Former): Captain America, she seemed to have the possibility of a life if she had stayed behind in the Compound.  Might not have been a happy one, but at least she would have had her agency and space to make her own decisions.  Why would she have simply thrown that all away?  It doesn’t track with what we know about her so far.” Cassian muttered.

 

“No, it seems to track perfectly, we know that she had a grudge against Dr Stark and openly admitted that she would do anything to see that revenge through to its conclusion.  In her mind, I suspect that she wouldn’t have liked feeling as if she owed the man anything.  Take it from someone who constantly struggled with the ideas of revenge and questions of why those things don’t go easily.

 

“Yeah, but you went underground during those years you spent hiding from the Empire, so you aren’t an authority on revenge.” Cassian thoughtlessly muttered.

 

“Maybe, maybe not, but I can tell you that I felt more fear during those years when I had to run from everything I knew.  Don’t forget that after Baze left me, I was very quickly at loose ends and I wasn’t sure which direction to go in.  For me, the only path I could take most of the time was to run for my life and quietly keep as much as peripheral eye on what Krennic was up to.  At the very least I honestly felt like I deserved knowing whether or not I was still being hunted.” Jyn calmly told the group in front of her.

 

“You were always hunted Ms Erso, whether or not you were aware of it.  Tarkin didn’t like the idea of having someone out there that could be used as collateral damage and a weak spot for any of his weapons designers.” K-2SO distractedly put down the woman.

 

“Thanks for that.” Jyn wound up as if she was about to continue arguing with the voice.

 

Jane shook her head once again; she felt that she couldn’t understand these people sometimes, it didn’t matter to her how often Darcy explained their backgrounds.  She had resolved herself to the information that there were some things that she just wasn’t supposed to understand.  At least not when it came to things that didn’t link to the night sky and the stars above her head.  She sometimes felt that she didn’t have the energy to care particularly for anything that wasn’t linked to the stars.  Not when she could be so intent on peeling back the secrets behind the universe.

 

“Oh guys, settle down, for now, we need to focus on some of the problems facing us.  What were there reactions.” Cassian tiredly mediated between the two.

 

“Right, for now, it seems like we might have gotten off lightly because at least for now they are quiet in the cells.  My guess is that they are still working on understanding what they have just watched.” Dacia theorised with a shrug of annoyance.

 

“For now though, that isn’t important, K, have you managed to find anything yet?” Cassian asked drawing the focus of the conversation back to what they were trying to do.

 

Glaring at one another as they tried to come up with solutions to their problems, seemed to an effort destined for failure.  Sighing to herself, Dacia clapped her hands together once and ran a hand through her hair in agitation.  To herself, it felt like they were so close to being able to find an answer to the problem that had been silently bugging them, she knew herself well enough at the point to be able to say that she thought the solution was staring at them.  For now, though, it escaped her, she felt disappointment in herself, as she ruefully thought to herself that it seemed unlikely that she would be able to think her way out a wet paper bag.

 

Distracted from what they were doing, which at this point was nothing, a small beeping noise distracted the group from staring at each other without a purpose for much longer.  Jane looked around the room, searching for any point the beeping sound could emanate from, while Cassian turned on the spot and started to tap buttons on the computer in front of him.  Taking a large lungful of air, Jane looked over at Cassian while she tried to work out how she should behave, sighing when she realised that the man wasn’t giving him any hints on how she should begin to act.

 

Looking over at a smirking Jyn, she wondered to herself what exactly the woman could have to smirk about.  She wondered if there was something that she was missing; it was entirely likely that there was something that she wasn’t thinking about.  She had already become resigned to the fact that she would always be likely to miss subtle clues whenever she was around these other people.  It came, she thought of not being able to completely understand them, due to them having been from both another portion of the Universe and a different time.  It was endlessly entertaining to wonder what behavioural clues she simply wasn’t picking up.

 

Jane was well aware that she could frequently be accused of missing out on subtle behavioural clues, finding it a better use of her time to have her head stuck in a book.  It was marginally disappointing that she couldn’t simply read a couple of books to try and explain some of the behaviours further.  Oh well, she shrugged to herself, she now had more things on her minds than in trying to understand some of the things which she struggled with.

 

Dacia was stood while her arms hanging at her side before she started to speak;

 

“Well?  Don’t leave us hanging K, what had you found?” Dacia impatiently asked.

 

“It would have taken me a shorter amount of time, I apologise for the long wait, but I encountered some things that I wasn’t expecting.  It turns out that we shouldn’t have been so quick to sneer off the advances made in this century and this Universe, or at least not when it comes to Dr Stark.” K-2SO sounded prim and irritated.

 

“Any chance you could tell us what you found K?  We are all just hanging around here, waiting for you.” Jyn spoke harshly, her annoyance with the former Andriod leaking into her tone.

 

“Doesn’t seem to me like you are doing anything even approaching usefulness Ms Erso!” K-2SO shot back at the woman.

 

“K!  Apologise, that was rude, you know sometimes I would really like a moment of peace.  And between the two of you always trying to score points against one another in some imaginary game, it doesn’t look like I’m going to get that.  At least not  while you two are around!” Cassian cried out, becoming fed up with the incessant back and forth between the two.

 

“Sorry.” The two muttered ashamed of themselves and their actions.

 

Jane looked over at Darcy, frowning as she wondered whether or not it was standard behaviour for the two to apologise in unison, no doubt it wasn’t something that the two of them planned on doing.  Judging by the amount they fought with one another, it was more likely that it had been an unhappy accident.

 

Dacia’s eyebrows rose again as she tried to hide a smirk when she realised that the two had done precisely what they never wanted to do, namely agree on something.  It had to be something that would happen to the two from time to time, namely that they were known to accidentally say the same things.  It might be unfortunate, but the two were remarkably similar at times, perhaps, they couldn’t get along at times, because they were so similar but constantly clashed, precisely because they tended to think in much the same way.

 

“Okay, can we please move on, what did you find K?” Cassian blinked at the computer in front of him attempting to tamp down on his frustration.

 

“Very well, my enquiries were intercepted by a being called FRIDAY, again, may I state that I don’t believe that there could be more than meets the eye when it comes to this Universe.  It took me some doing, but I was able to work around the being.  I was able to find evidence of constant undermining of Dr Stark, but most curiously I did find that Lord Thor was constantly talking up his beloved, I believe that he called her Lady Jane.

 

But that’s not all, while the man was prone to fits of rhapsody about the woman, he similarly did not speak of any problems in the relationship.  It is unknown at this time whether or not the man simply didn’t believe in sharing all the parts of his relationships.  Or maybe he simply couldn’t see them.  It is entirely possible that the alien didn’t want anyone to think any less of him, at least not if he could help it.  Another point to consider is that he could already see the writing on the wall and doubt the Avengers was always going to be around.” K-2SO spoke calmly telling the small group what he had found.

 

“Enough with the armchair diagnosis, you aren’t even programmed to give those small details.” Jyn sighed.

 

“No, but I have a learning protocol, so I can look up the things that interest me.  In any case, it could explain why the woman is interested in Dr Foster.” The AI testily shot back.

 

“ALRIGHT ENOUGH YOU TWO, GO TO YOUR SEPARATE CORNERS UNTIL YOU CALM DOWN ENOUGH SO THAT I DON’T WANT TO SCREAM,” Cassian shouted at the two, running a hand his hair in agitation.

 

_WHOOSH_

Silence reigned supreme in the prison cells while the group tried to digest what they had just seen on the tapes.  Clint sighed once again and wondered again how he had gotten himself involved in this mess.  He sometimes found himself wondering if he had access to a time machine, he had seen enough while under the employment of S.H.I.E.L.D. to completely discount the existence (or near existence) of such machines.  He would like to go back before this mess started and stay on the farm with his wife and kids.  That way he wouldn’t have had to get involved in this whole mess.

 

It took him some time to work out that some of the feelings he held for Wanda Maximoff weren’t real.  He wasn’t sure what had possessed him to lump the woman into the same category as his daughter Lila, the woman was old enough to be a lover.  If Clint ever went for terrorists that had her fingers in his friends’ minds and tried to kill him.  Clint could admit that he might be more messed up than he liked to admit some days, but he drew the line there.  He was starting to consider whether or not it had been the right move for him to jump to dance to Rogers’ tune so quickly.

 

Judging by the video they had just watched, the two of them, he wasn’t so sure whether he should have so easily danced to Rogers’ tune.  Whether any of them should have trusted Rogers’ so easily.  He could easily remember that one of the Avengers’ earlier nemesis’ was Loki who had patronisingly described the man as ‘The Man Out Of Time’.  After that whole mess he had easily wiped the taunts from his mind, but not he wondered if he shouldn’t have paid closer attention.  Should Rogers have been trusted to leave a paramilitary group made up of people with special abilities?

 

“Steve, would you like to explain, WHY THE HELL ARE WE STILL LISTENING TO YOU?  WHAT GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO LEAD US TO THIS.” Clint roared.

 

“I thought that was quite simple personally because who else would have led your sorry asses?  You?  I think not; you were in trouble long before we ever got there, you were waiting for a reason to come out.  Was life on the farm getting too boring for you?  Not enough action and adventure for there pal?” Steve taunted, sneering at the man. 

 

He had long ago managed to see the writing on the wall with regards to the man.  It wasn’t Steve’s fault that the man hadn’t had enough patience (or intelligence) to sort through his emotions and know when he was being led astray?  You just couldn’t find good help anymore, certainly not when it came to someone who been formally employed by a clandestine agency that turns out to be an even more clandestine terrorist group?  Steve had frequently asked himself if you could trust anyone anymore.

 

Certainly, he couldn’t trust Stark, but one thing that he was embarrassed about what that he hadn’t counted on the man going postal on them in that bunker.  Stark should have known enough to so willingly disobey him.  He should have known enough to take a firmer hand in making sure that the man understands that Rogers’ word was as good as law.  Steve sometimes wondered how much his good friend Howard would weep if he could see how badly behaved his son was.  Steve wondered how little a hand Howard had taken in his son’s upbringing because clearly, it wasn’t enough.

 

As per usual he got stuck with the bill for looking after the man that so easily tried his patience.  Clearly, he did, couldn’t trust anyone these days, and those he had once trusted only tried to kill him and Buck in that Siberian hellhole.

 

Sam’s eye ran over the people before him as he questioned what exactly had happened to make him think it was a logical solution to all of his problems.  It might have been an easy path to take, for him to help Cap during that dust-up that was in DC.  Then, he should have known to cut his losses afterwards; the man had had far too much going on with him.  He had been taken in by the man’s blue eyes.  Why hadn’t he realised that the man who was supposed to be the lynchpin in the NAZIs destruction?  The man looked like the perfect Aryan specimen, white skin and all!

 

He had wondered whether or not he had been so blinded to some of the truth working alongside the man, because he had seen a fellow former soldier in considerable distress with more issues than Vogue?  He should have been able to put aside his potential friendship with the man, to know that he should have attempted to call in bigger guns and get the man to seek professional help.  Sam was left to wonder whether or not his ego had been too big for him to admit that a problem that faced him was bigger than him.

 

He should have seen the signs all along; he didn’t have much by way of formal qualifications.  He had more learned on the job, and while he had been counselling Veterans, he had been able to get a small qualification, and he had learned the rest on the job.  For a time that had worked, but Sam had privately suspected that even the licensed professionals with a long string of letters after their name would the way Steve Rogers mind worked to be vexing.  Hoping that he could blunder through it by a combination of luck friendship was not enough to make a positive.  Sam also privately doubted that it was even enough to get through to the guy.

 

Scott now that he was in enforced proximity with them had learned that it was never a good idea to meet your heroes.  He had been wondering all along what had happened to make him think that it was a smart idea to hang on Dr Pym’s every word.  Sure, not Dr Pym had been the one to point out that you should never trust a Stark, but Scott couldn’t remember whether or not Dr Pym had ever met Stark.  He had managed to work out that Dr Pym had mostly retired from a life spent as CEO and before that hero, so how would he have ever met Stark?  Even more embarrassing but had Scott ever even thought to ask the man whether or not he had ever met Stark?

 

Some of the business decisions that Stark made had flown over Scott’s head, but Scott wasn’t sure how he would react if he were ever faced with his parent’s murderer.  Yeah, he might have met the guy who technically murdered his parents, at the guy’s trial, but he had still been young then, so could he trusted not to try and take the law into his own hands happened now?

 

Scott didn’t think he could trust himself enough to be faced with the same decisions and make better calls, for one thing, he wasn’t sure about much anymore.  He still found himself wondering from time to time why he had decided to throw in his lot with Cap.  Sure, it was Captain America, and he had heard the story of when the guy had seemingly single-handedly taken down the Nazis?  Though now, he was beginning to question whether or not that was oversimplifying a big problem.  He had long since known (at least he had dated that history major in uni) how difficult it could be to kill an idea, so it stood to reason that the NAZIs were still alive and kicking.

 

Didn’t that whole mess in DC prove that they were still about?  Still lurking in the shadows like the creepers they were!  Scott could acknowledge that he had been a bit of idiot, getting involved in things that he had no business getting involved in.  Why did he think he could play (fight) with the big boys?  He was new to this whole hero game, why had he even gotten involved?

 

He should have known that when he was fired from Baskin Robbins (they always know man) that it would be incredibly difficult for him to find a job, he should have known better than to break into some rich prats home.  All he had wanted was to be able to remain in his darling Cassie’s life, but how could he expect to do that if he continued to do stupid things like breaking the law.  He had been so grateful when the rich bastard had decided not to press charges, but he should have known better.  What other reason would that guy have had not to press charges if he hadn’t had something to hold over the guys head?  Scott was starting to realise that he was a patsy for Pym and nothing more.  It was disappointing to realise that someone had never intended for you to be anything more than cannon fodder because Scott could now realise that Pym had called him in to avoid his daughter getting killed.

 

Scott felt himself sliding down the wall beside his bed and wondered to himself whether or not he was a complete idiot.  Why had it even entered into mind that he could make a difference?  While he was almost positive that he had made a difference in for the people living in San Francisco, it would have been bad if Cross had realised his evil intentions.  But he wasn’t sure if that meant he was ready to step forward and save the world.  Had he been ready to step forward and make a change?  It was a shame that there wasn’t any form of qualification for hero work.

 

After watching the video Wanda felt only disappointment fill her – she felt disappointed with Steve for not killing Stark.  The guy was right there, and he could have so easily killed the guy who brought Wanda so much pain.  Maybe the only thing that could be considered good was that now Wanda could kill Stark?  The guy’s hands were dripping blood, for his many victims, Wanda could only imagine the relief and small amount of joy that would fill them with news of the pig’s death.

 

The bloodier, the better (with regards to Stark), nothing would fit the man’s end better.  After Stark met his end, she would want to deal with Rogers.  What made that man think that she appreciated being treated like a child?  She was fully aware of what she was doing, and the only thing that she regretted from that ULTRON misstep was that her beloved brother Pietro had died.  She always wished that she had listened to her brother in that castle and killed Stark there.

 

The man had been out of his armour and completely vulnerable, but she wanted to make the man hurt.  If she had listened to Pietro then, maybe she would still have her brother.  They could be back within HYDRA’s embrace merrily torturing their way through Europe.  Oh well, it would seem that hindsight could show her a whole manner of problems she could have easily avoided.

 

She would also wonder what she would do if she ever came face to face with Vision, the stupid robot had been too conflicted on how he should behave towards her after she broke out of the Compound.  Didn’t sending the _thing_ through floors of concrete tell the man that she just wasn’t that interested in him?  When she got out of this, some things were going to change.

 

James stood in his cell and slowly surveyed the other prisoners wondering to himself how he had managed to get himself entangled in this mess?  How had this ‘team’ ever operated together for this long?

 

Who the hell was Bucky?


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane steps away for a time, the gang speculate on Natasha Romanoff's mindset and the potential downfalls of Wakanda's isolationist policy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! The sun's out, the sun's out, the big scary yellow ball in the sky is out. I have been reliably informed that it is a sun, don't frighten it!

Jane couldn’t remember ever feeling as stunned as she was right now.  She wondered what game her ex-was playing at, what reason could he have had to talk up their relationship?  Jane wondered why the being had decided to talk up the woman, to the extent that he did.  It was a mixture of both flattering and mind-boggling that the being spent so much time talking up a relationship with a woman that he barely saw.  Jane started to wonder if she had simply thrown away a relationship before she even had the chance to see what else was in that relationship.

 

Catching sight of a warning look that her former intern sent her, Jane shook her head once to clear her mind of the unanswerable questions.  Suppressing a brief snort of amusement while she wondered to herself what her former grad students would think if they heard what their bitch of a professor was thinking.  No doubt she would get only signs of condensation, how dare the woman who for long only preached about going out to find the answers they sought.  Shaking her head with a wry snort as she wondered what it would take for anything to begin making sense to her.

 

“Okay, so it seems as if my complete genius of an ex-talked me up to all and sundry, is there any way that I can get out of this mess?” Jane sarcastically asked.

 

“No, but for now we are going to have a deal with some more issues, at least before they become too big for us to handle on our own.  We need to get you to a haven before it is too late for us to make sure that you are kept safe.  Is there anywhere that you would like to be taken?” Jyn answered the woman, sighing when she spoke to the woman.

 

“I can’t think of anywhere off the top of my head.  I guess that it’s too dangerous for me to head back to New Mexico?” Jane rhetorically answered the question, with yet another question.

 

“Yeah, it seems as if Romanova has taken it into her head to send enemies towards you.  It seems like she had herself half convinced that if she could save you, or put you into danger then Designation: Thor and Designation: Iron Man would look kindly on her for protecting you.  I don’t think that it entered into her head that she would be the whole reason you were in trouble.” Jyn answered, troubled.

 

“That doesn’t make any sense, that’s like cutting the brake lines on someone’s car with the intent to save them before they died.” Jane spluttered.

 

“We know it doesn’t but don’t forget that the woman is slightly messed up.  She might be starting to think that up is down and down is up.  She might feel that this is the only path left to her that still makes sense.  Jane, have you been watching more soap operas again?” Dacia snorted.

 

“Yeah, they are addictive to watch while I’m waiting for the data to compile.  You were the one to get me into soap operas!” Jane protested.

 

“Yeah, they were interesting to watch when we were trying to work out the intricacies of human behaviour, at least in this Universe.” Dacia tried to defend herself, holding her hands up in a peace sign.

 

“Alright, can we move past that and start focussing on something else for a while?  Like how we are going to be to keep Dr Foster safe while we try to resolve this whole mess.” Cassian sighed, trying to draw attention back to the topic that they were currently exploring.

 

Jane coughed slightly, becoming more irritated when she realised that the group were once again talking about her as if she wasn’t in the room.  Glancing over at Darcy, Jane waited for the woman to make up a decision.  She didn’t feel like she could decide for herself in any case, not while she didn’t understand all of the players in any case.

 

“Jane, how do you feel about the possibility of us taking you to Stark Tower?  I know that you won’t be able to get a lot of star seeing down from the middle of Manhattan but for now, I need you somewhere safe.  Don’t ask me to watch you get hurt; you can’t make me do that.” Darcy apologised when she thought through some of the things that she was likely to come up against.

 

“Yeah, that will be fine, for now, I don’t want to put myself in unnecessary danger.  But it won’t be for long right?” Jane checked.

 

“No, it should be for too long, Jyn email Ms Potts, once we have got an affirmative answer, I can plot a course to the Tower.  In the meantime though, what do we do with the Prisoners?” Cassian instructed, already being sure of what he wanted.

 

Jyn looked over at Dacia stunned that Cassian had opted to give her instructions, she wasn’t sure if she should follow them.  Dacia simply shrugged lazily back at her, so Jyn decided to do as the guy asked and began to type up an email ready to be sent to Ms Potts.

 

 **To:** Ms Potts, Ms Hill

 

 **CC:** Lewis, Dacia & Andor, Cassian.

 

 **From:** Erso, Jyn

 

_Hello, I am writing to you guys with another problem; we were able to intercept conversation that one Natalia Romanova had another target in her sights.  One Dr Jane Foster, the now infamous astrophysicist, as of yet we haven’t been able to determine why Romanova might think that attacking the scientist was a good idea._

 

_We aren’t sure, yet, if this looks like it could be a legitimate problem, but in any case, we decided to remove Dr Foster from harm's way.  We may have another lead on where we could find the woman, but we need somewhere to safely hide Dr Foster, at least while we follow up on some leads on the whereabouts of Romanoff.  As you know, it is of critical and paramount importance to us that the woman is kept as safe as she be, at least to us, while this mess is being further investigated._

 

_We can’t be sure whether or not we have found definitive current whereabouts of Romanoff.  In any case, we can’t trust ourselves to keep the woman safe if we drag her on a manhunt.  I hope that it is not too much to ask, but could we ask if she could be hosted in Stark Tower?  Our thinking goes that at least there she might have the opportunity to do a bit of sciencing._

 

_Let us know what you think,_

 

_Jyn Erso._

 

“Okay, I sent that email to Ms Potts.  Hopefully, we might get an answer before we need to act.  Do we have anything else that we can work on right now?” Jyn asked, coming out of a fugue type state as she wrote the email.

 

Jyn noticed that it looked as if Dacia was hunched (probably painfully) over a computer while muttering herself.  Balancing on her tiptoes while she tried to spot what the woman was looking, it was for nought though.  Exchanging a look with Cassian, the two of them look, when they managed to hear what was the woman was saying to herself.  Glaring at the man and daring him to speak, right now she didn’t trust herself to speak.

 

“Dacia, what are you looking at so intently on the screen?  Is there something that we need to be worried about?” Cassian tiredly asked, not sure whether or not he should start to panic yet.

 

“Nothing, I keep checking the feeds from the prison cells, I keep expecting to see them doing well anything.  But none of them is doing anything.  I can’t be sure if so far it has escaped their notice the mess they are in.  Or at least if they have, they don’t seem to have progressed past the point of blaming others for them not opening their eyes and not recognising the gravity of the situation they just leapt into.” Dacia complained, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

 

“It’s possible that for some, they aren’t ready to accept that their actions have consequences, we can’t get ourselves into something that we don’t understand, not before we have worked through all the consequences for ourselves.” Jyn theorised to the two, not sure of what she was trying to get at.

 

“I know I can struggle with understanding things at times, especially if it involves looking at something from a different perspective,” Cassian muttered.

 

“Yeah, but we don’t occasionally feel like taking a two by four to the back of your head when you refuse to try and understand anyone else’s perspective.  Never mind looking at a problem from a different angle.” Dacia muttered.

 

Jane snorted in the background, wondering not for the first time what she had gotten herself into.  She was sure that even though she did not entirely understand these people, not thoroughly in any case, that she had thrown her lot in with the right people.  Even their banter was amusing she thought to herself, she felt that she had seen enough of these people when they were under pressure for her to feel comfortable that they could handle any threats that came their way.  Or at least the vast majority of threats.

 

“True enough, but for now we need to keep an eye on things, at least we have other things for us to keep an eye on first.  At least before we start worrying ourselves about silly things.” Jyn tried to get their focus back on track.

 

Jane simply snorted to herself, content to watch the idle bickering of her friends for now.  Watching as Jyn closed her eyes, having become frustrated with her friends’ lack of focus, Jane felt her eyebrows inching up her forehead in shock, Jyn was usually the first that could be persuaded to goof and have a laugh.  That wasn’t to say that Jyn couldn’t be quietly serious and intense whenever the mood struck her, because goodness knows that she could be.

 

Watching as Jyn rolled her eyes, Jane found herself empathising with the woman; she knew how frustrating it could feel when somebody didn’t do their work in the way that she knew they could.  Noticing when Jyn turned to pierce the computer with a pleasant look of surprise, Jane made her way over to the woman, knowing that right now the woman could be looking at something uniquely serious.

 

“What is it?” Jane hissed at the woman concerned.

 

“We’ve got an email back from Ms Potts, and it’s not what I was expecting,” Jyn muttered back at her.

 

“What is it?  You know that we can work through whatever it is right?” Jane gently asked.

 

“no, I know that, but this isn’t what I was expecting in a million years.  Here, look at yourself and tell me if that is what you might have expected.” Jyn told the woman, gesturing at the screen in front of her.

 

Jane gave the woman one last beseeching look, even though she was not sure what answers she sought and peered at the monitor.  Without even noticing what she was doing her lips began to form the words as she read:

 

 **TO:** Erso, Jyn

 

 **FROM:** Potts, Virginia

 

_Ms Erso, it may be better if you leave Doctor Foster at the Compound in the north of New York State.  I say this because we don’t want to run the risk of someone finding where Doctor Foster is.  It would also be helpful to remember that at least at the Compound she may be able to do a little stargazing on the grounds, at least the option would be there whereas it wouldn’t be there if she were to stay at the Tower there would be too much light pollution._

 

_Let me know if this would be good for you; we can’t take custody of the Rogue Avengers just yet, some elements needed to be moved before we can take custody off._

 

“Okay, well that sounds fair enough.  Where did you think you spotted Romanoff?” Jane asked when she had read through the email.

 

“We haven’t been able to find her properly, but we have received confidential information that she has been spotted moving across the Middle East.  At first, we couldn’t work out why she had picked the Middle East, but I have been able to pin down her motives for choosing the Middle East.  At the very least countries across the Middle East does not currently have extradition treaties with America.  Neither does Russia, but for obvious reasons, she wouldn’t feel comfortable going to ground in the country that trained her.  It’s likely that there are some incredibly dangerous individuals in the country with an axe to grind.” Cassian cut in, obviously having cut into the two’s discussion.

 

“I can’t understand why she hasn’t chosen China; there is no extradition treaty there either.  It would probably be safer in one aspect if she chooses to hide out in China, goodness knows its big enough that she could disappear with relative ease.” Dacia muttered.

 

“She might have some enemies in China, don’t forget that is not a lot of information we can easily rely on when it comes to the might of the security services there.  She might have forgotten the country and decided that at least now, she would like a little more sun.  In any case, I don’t feel comfortable speculating, at least not before I can see further proof, but we need to find her.” Cassian answered.

 

While the two were having a discussion, Jyn had shown the two of them the email, leaning back against the table and chewing a little on some of the thoughts that had occurred to her.  One of the things that Jyn couldn’t pretend that she was unfamiliar with was racism.  Though in her Home Universe it was more likely to be specism that she was more familiar with, sometimes more familiar than she was comfortable with.

 

Realising that this planet was familiar (and adept at the practice) with racism, especially over something (as insignificant she thought) as a place of birth or the colour of your skin, was disheartening.  Jyn hated to become a cliché, but she wished that for a change everybody could get along.  She had watched a movie a few years, and she wished that she could bake cookies with everyone.

First, she would have to learn how to bake without setting fire to the house.

 

There was a reason that Dacia and Cassian wouldn’t allow her near the kitchen when she wasn’t intending on working with sweet foods.

 

She could work with some savoury foods, like stews or lasagna or even roast dinners but it would seem like sugar was a step too far.

 

Odd that.

 

“Okay, well Daca, do you have anything else that you think could tip us over the edge?” Cassian asked once he noticed that Jyn looked as if she was considering a serious problem.

 

“No, we should work on getting Jane situated before we try to divine motivation from that woman’s actions.  Cassian, can you get us there?  Don’t feel like you have to push this bucket of bolts.” Dacia ordered with a smile.

 

Cassian nodded back at the woman and left the room with nary a sound.  Dacia didn’t notice Jyn and Jane looking at her, peering at her while they tried to figure out what was going through the woman’s head.  Dacia was too busy, clutching her head with one hand, while she tried to sort through some of the thoughts that were now running through her head as if they had been fireflies trapped in a bottle for too long.

 

_WHOOSH_

After a while, when the ship had landed, Dacia looked around her, hoping to find a hint of something or anything she could use.  It wasn’t to be; they had to work quick, shaking her head once again she peered around the room looking for Jane, knowing that now she had to make sure that she got the woman to safety.  Smiling softly over at her former employer (though did it count if she wasn’t paid) and upon noticing the packed bag at her feet, Dacia felt that for now at least she knew what she would have to do.

 

Walking quietly over to the woman, with her arms spread wide as she wanted a hug from the woman before they had to leave her behind to go chasing after yet more ghosts in shadows.  Smiling a little when Jane also held her arms out to the woman, she wrapped the woman in her arms and took a deep breath in, wanting to remember the woman’s unique scent of labs and flowers.

 

Hmm, it seemed like the woman was still using the same perfume.  It had always been a relief when even if the woman forgot to shower (which could be nauseatingly often) she would always spray a bit of perfume over her body.  It was a bit of a toss-up whether or not the woman over sprayed the perfume, which could be sickeningly sweet at times.

 

“You might not see us for a while, but we promise to be back as soon as we can, look for me follow all their instructions.  You know that it would kill me if anything were to happen you, not while I could have been there to help you.  You should be fine here, just call one of the three of us if you are having any difficulties, okay?” Dacia checked with the woman, once she had stepped back from the woman, her eyes running over the woman in concern, not sure what she was looking for.

 

“Yeah, I know, just please for me, be careful and don’t take any unnecessary risks unless you have to.  I know that I can’t hope to protect you, but that woman has decided that I’m the person she wants to go after, I couldn’t handle it if I thought that any of you guys got hurt on my account.” Jane told the woman in a rare show of emotion.

 

Dacia looked over at the woman, nervous about what she was asking.  Sighing a little to herself when she realised that it was possible that one of them get hurt while they were hunting down Romanova, the woman was simply too dangerous not to be treated without caution.  Dacia wondered at what point the tiny astrophysicist had wormed her way into her heart, but she found that she didn’t mind it.  Jane might have become something like a mascot for the crew, a genius and overworked scientist; she represented what the trio was looking for all along.  It was, as always something for them to be concerned about, at least now it seemed as if they had something to play for.  Nodding to herself, she agreed with the woman.

 

“Jane, you know that anything could happen when we are out there, we are going to be chasing after someone who could have a lot of power, I can’t promise that nothing will happen.  But I promise you that we will fight to make our way back.  Is that okay?” Dacia sighed, running a hand through her hair stressed.

 

“Okay, I let you guys go.” Jane sighed, before reaching round for Jyn and trying to comfort her.

 

Jyn looked over at the woman and made sure to hug her tightly, before stepping back to wrap the woman in a hug.  Letting go of the woman, Jyn looked over her shoulder as Cassian came back into the room.  Cassian simply nodded over at the woman, unable to make himself hug the woman, his stoic side still showing through.

 

Allowing Cassian to take the woman from them, Jane made her way from the spaceship, feeling as if all the stress was coming off her, turns out that the stress of feeling as if she was in more danger, could stress out a person.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

When Jane had stepped off the spaceship, it seemed as some oxygen left the ship, shaking her head and stepping forward to resume her work once again.  Scrolling a hand over the tablet in front of her, Dacia frowned when she realised the magnitude of work ahead of them.  Breathing slowly she tried to consider whether or not it was time for them to begin working quickly. 

 

“Okay, so what are our next problems?” Dacia prompted the small group, wanting to get them back on track.

 

“Does it seem as if the woman would prefer to hide in large cities, or out in the country?  If we knew that, we could know where to check first.” Jyn muttered.

 

“I have been thinking about that, and it occurs to me that the woman would be more likely to hide in larger cities, where she could disappear more easily.  After all, who is going to notice a new woman popping up, not when she could fall back on the excuse that she was brought by a desire for work.  She could also keep an ear to the ground for any potential changes to the Sokovia Accords.  She would need to know whether or not it was safe for her not to come out of hiding again.” Cassian began.

 

“Right, that would make sense, somehow though I can’t see the woman giving up on a chance for herself to step back into the limelight.  She might have gotten used to the spotlight, no matter how much she might have protested it.  She would maybe decide that she didn’t like the idea of hiding out in the country, because she might stick out even more.  It wouldn’t have been as easy for her to simply hide, because you guys know as well as I do, that a newcomer would stick out like a sore thumb.  Especially if everybody already knew most of everybody else.” Jyn continued the man’s thought with a shiver going up her spine as she considered some of the implications of what she was saying.

 

“Okay, so if we turn our sights to the larger cities, do you guys think we might be able to find her.  Do you think that we cast a large net for the woman, we might be able to find her?” Dacia checked.

 

“It is entirely possible that we might be able to pick the woman up, but we need to find out if we can find the woman.  We are going to need to find the woman, are there any warrants out for her arrest?  We know that she hurt Black Panther, could Wakanda have a warrant out for the woman, his later actions would cast aspersions on the man’s thinking processes.” Cassian supplied.

 

“For now though, we have to operate under the knowledge that they are looking for her.  The only thing that we can rely on right now though is that no matter how powerful the  Dora Milaje, the country has been isolated for so long that they don’t have any extradition treaties with other countries.  One of the downsides of being so far cut off means that you can’t rely on other countries to go out of their way to do anything you ask them, because they can’t trust that you will be likely to honour your previous commitments to other countries.  I can understand why they would think like that because many countries operate with a bit of you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours, sad to say but it’s true.  Wakanda at this stage is an unknown entity before it was believed to be a developing nation, able to fly under the radar because no one expected them to be much.  At the same time, we can’t be sure whether or not the Dora Milaje could simply march in with and take custody of the woman, who gives a damn about relations?” Dacia, muttered remembering some of her studies as Darcy Lewis.

 

Strange how things could come full circle at times.

 

“Okay, but even though Wakanda have access to Vibranium, would they still risk showing their hand so early?  What would be the benefit of them starting a war?  Sure they could finish it, but would they want to risk it?  Especially for just one woman?” Cassian asked, still not sure whether on some things.

 

“It’s possible that Wakanda has become arrogant in their isolation.  Think about it; if they believe that they can finish any war, they might have told themselves that it is unlikely that they have anything to lose, should they be pushed into a situation where war looks like a legitimate answer.” Jyn provided.

 

“Yeah, that could be true, but I think we could tell anyone that it seems that there is _always_ a higher cost of war.  From our backgrounds, we know that anyone could get hurt, and it doesn’t matter on what side you stand on.  Is it even possible that Wakanda is not as familiar with a higher cost?  Something tells me that they might not be ready to pay for their actions in a court, would they hold their actions, until they could be sure which way the winds are blowing?” Cassian asked.

 

“For now, we have to work through the current matter.  Jyn have you found anything we can use to tell us where the woman is?  I don’t think I need to point out to you how crucial our next few moves could be.” Dacia asked, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand.

 

“I have been scanning through some of the matters that we might be able to find; we need to find her.  So far, I can tell you that the woman is flying under far under the radar, we will find the woman.  K have you been able to find any proof of the woman?” Jyn, not sure what answer she was likely to get.

 

“I have been scanning, and it seems as if the woman has some information to tell her to move more and more frequently.  She might have been changing her lair or her living accommodations every so often, most likely to avoid detection, at least as far as she could.” K-2SO provided.

 

“Alright, is there a chance that she could find any proof or something to indicate to her that people are looking in the Middle East for her.  We don’t want to tip her off and follow a red herring to a point where we run the risk of becoming so confused that tire ourselves out looking for some answer that doesn’t exist.” Dacia asked, wanting to be sure.

 

“For now though, I have found a possible apartment block, on the outskirts of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, she might be holed up there for now.  Would you like me to scan the surrounding areas for any cameras that might be able to tell us where she is?” K-2SO told the group triumphant with some of the things that he had managed to find.

 

“Yeah, in the meantime though, we had better find some disguises, we don’t want to stick out like sore thumbs,” Dacia told the AI, before leading Jyn from the room.

 

_WHOOSH_

Steve looked up confused, he wasn’t sure why the spaceship was moving and for now though he was confused he didn’t feel like he could ask.  Nor could he bring it up to any of the people in the other cells, they still didn’t understand why he had taken the actions that he had.  Steve couldn’t understand why they refused to listen to him; he had known that Bucky was innocent, why would no one believe him?

 

He had had to protect Bucky from Stark in that bunker; Stark could have killed him, even though it was more likely that he would have simply hurt the man, for all the power of the suit, the man was weak.  He wasn’t a soldier, he didn’t know the cost of war, of taking someone else’s life.  Steve had been right all those years ago; Stark wasn’t ready to lay down his life to protect other people.  He had never been ready.

 

Steve had suspected that the guy had known that his trip into the wormhole wasn’t a one-way trip.  Steve had known guys like his ilk before, out for nothing but themselves and so greedy to take all the advantages they could.  Steve felt nothing but dismay and disgust curl in his belly as he thought of his former ‘friend’.

 

It worried Steve at times that the Avengers, the rightful Avengers had fallen so deep into Stark’s shadow, were they all hoodwinked to believe the best in Stark?  The only thing that brought him any comfort right now was that at least they had fought alongside him against the insidious influence of Stark.

 

Maybe he didn’t have to lose all hope in them.

 

Stark had fallen so far and so fast, his father had been such a good man, he had provided the Howling Commandos (how he missed those guys) with gear in the European theatre of war.  He regretted that his friend’s face and body had been used to kill his friend, that had stung a little Steve could privately admit.  But Steve knew that Howard would never have blamed Buck for murdering him.  Howard had understood how things lay, at least he could have trusted the man _that_ much.

 

Tony had been so blinded by rage; he hadn’t stopped to think about the implications of his actions, he never had.  Tony had always simply thrown his money at his problems and forced the rightful Avengers to look after themselves.  Steve promised himself that from now on he would make sure that **his** team was kept away from Stark’s dirty money and influence.  He would have to make sure that they were kept far away from anything that could turn them from his influence.

 

The only thing that troubled him now was, that Wanda seemed so bloodthirsty, he wondered how the woman had kept a tight reign on her anger.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha continues to evade the group, a surprising connection is made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The movie is so good guys, and hehe I'm halfway to finished here

Dacia felt as if she had mixed feelings about their actions in Saudi Arabia, she had felt personally disappointed in some of the political atmosphere that she had encountered in the Kingdom. She felt as if some of the atmosphere surrounding women’s right in regressive Kingdom, felt like it reminded her of some of the politics and rights afforded on some of the planets on the Outer Rim. One of the few things that she could remember from her time before becoming a Jedi Warrior, was that her home planet was not the most pleasant place for a woman to be. 

Both her and Jyn had had to rely on Cassian to help them slip under the radar, it had been difficult for the two of them to rely so completely on Cassian, it would probably have been even more difficult if they hadn’t already been so close. Dacia had been very aware that the last thing they needed, was for any of them to run afoul of the law, landing them in a situation that could be tricky for them to get out off. Normally, if Dacia and Jyn saw something like that it burned at their soul, but Cassian was usually able to pull the women back and explain that no matter how much they wanted, they couldn’t march in and change something that they didn’t fully understand. That wasn’t to say that Cassian didn’t fully comprehend that there was a difficulty in resigning himself to the difficulties that they faced, he had told them a long time ago that they couldn’t always change things.

He had reminded them that even if they hadn’t been able to understand everything didn’t mean that it wouldn’t work for somebody else with an entirely different set of beliefs. That he had chosen to remind them of the failed Senate system, not everything worked for everyone else. There were different laws and beliefs that dictated what others would think worked. It was also helpful to remember that a place’s history could dictate their future, even centuries and millennia longer. That wasn’t to say that there was nothing that Dacia felt like a cheater and coward for not changing things.

Shaking her head out once again, Dacia tried to clear her head from some of the thoughts that screamed at her for attention. Once again, she tried to remind herself, that she couldn’t fight all the demons, because she wasn’t sure at what point she would become hopelessly distracted trying to fight unseen villains. Frowning down at the screen in front her, Dacia lifted a single finger to her lip, ready to tap while she tried to work out some of the answers that plagued at the edges of her consciousness. She felt like she was trying to hunt down a monster, but one that she could barely remember, at least not beyond hearing accounts of the monster by stressed nurses when she was younger.

With an inarticulate growl, she flicked away the information in front of her, becoming annoyed that she hadn’t been able to find anything. Running a frustrated hand through her hair, she looked up from the computer at her friends. Wondering how she was now going to tackle this latest frustration she decided to speak to the two of them. Maybe some fresh eyes would be able to shed some light on this particular problem.

“So, I think we can all agree that that was a bit of a wash, we weren’t able to find the woman, but I didn’t think that we would be able to find the woman there. It seemed like too much to hope for, were you guys able to spot anything that I missed?” Dacia tiredly asked.

“I don’t know if I would say that was a complete waste of time, we were able to find that she had been there. She might not be there now, but if we can strike off Saudi Arabia for now, then we might have seen something that could point us towards where she is now.” Cassian reminded the woman, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

“And now, you are all wishy-washy, Cassian, I thought that was my role! Off the top of my head I wasn’t able to spot anything that we should keep in mind, what did you see there?” Jyn laughed, her hair coming loose from its high ponytail in her frustration.

“Well, taking into account that we can believe that there were some things that we were able to pick up. I noticed that the rights of women in Saudi Arabia were weak, it might have been at the very beginning hoping to be able to blend into the background in the Kingdom, she might have begun to chafe at the implication that it wouldn’t have been as easy for her to keep a low profile. She may have been able to find ways around the law, but it may have become too tiring for continue living there, at least while she wanted to have the time to lick her wounds and work out which steps to take next.” Cassian remarked lightly.

“Wait but what do you mean? Cassian were you able to spot something that we missed? Care to share with the class, we are going to have to work out what steps to take next, be nice if we could only know what we should do next!” Jyn dryly remarked.

“Right, these are just my impressions, I haven’t been able to work out all of the intricacies but, we don’t know a lot about Romanoff so far. Dacia have you been able to find something or anything about the woman’s background?” Cassian asked.

“No, not yet, but if you guys will allow me some time to grab my notes on the socio-political state of the world when Romanoff switched employers.” Dacia told the two, not sure what Cassian was looking for, willing to help the man with any of the thoughts he had cryptically hinted towards.

Not being able to find any clue in the man’s expression, Dacia nodded once and left the room behind her.

WHOOSH

Dacia made her way along the quiet corridors of the spaceship, wrestling with some of the thoughts that had begun to float in her head. Going through some of the documents, she had thought earlier to scoop up, her curiosity knows no bounds. It might not have made a lot of sense to her, that she had scooped up emails on something that on the surface had nothing to do with her, but for now it would seem as if her nosiness had paid off. It made her smile to think that no matter how shadowy your organisation, you would still be mired in bureaucracy. The number of forms she had seen evidence off had hinted to her that you couldn’t escape from always having to dot the ‘I’s and cross the ‘T’s.

Cassian had snorted when he learned of the sheer multitude of forms, remarking only that some things were the same world over. Jyn had briefly flicked her eyes over the data at the time and agreed with Cassian – there were always going to be a crazy stupid amount of files.

Unfortunately at the time, she hadn’t been able to scoop up all the files that she would need to make an informed decision right now. Sighing when she realised that she was already beginning to operate from behind. Making up her mind to simply begin working through some of the data that she had called up in front of her as soon as she begun to enter the library.

Humming under her breath, she made sure to retrieve the files that contained some of the data that she was sure she needed. It turned out that she has to write off her pack-rat tendencies completely. Now at least, it seemed as if they might be coming to fruition and paying dividends. Maybe now she would be able to find some answers to the things that were plaguing her.

Chewing on her bottom lip when she realised that some of the things Cassian had awkwardly hinted at, were playing on a loop in her head. It was at times like this when Dacia felt it pertinent to remind herself that as long as she could back up some of her guesses with concrete work, then she might be able to skate through. The biggest thing that she tried to remind herself of right now, was that she wasn’t trying to score any points in an academic setting.

Sometimes she hated having to make sure she had sources that didn’t directly contradict each other and all agreed with one another. Plus she hated compiling the bibliography at times, if she ever had to worry about the home to correctly write outsourcing in Havard format it would be too soon.

She wasn’t a stranger to stress dreams where she tried to remember what order she had pulled sources in. Strangely there were considerably fewer dreams about her forgetting to put on clothes. Go figure!

When she made her way into the small library, she pulled a box of files toward her, she had compiled the files back when she was studying as Darcy Lewis and it felt like a kick in the teeth to her if she started to throw out the files. Besides she was still somewhat of a packrat and could never be too sure when she might need something that she had already gotten rid off. Curses, but sentimentality still seemed to rule her heart (and head) at the most inopportune of times.

Realising that right now, she tremendously pleased that she had kept up the habit of her keeping records of all her notes. It was something that had served her well while she was still acting as a Jedi Warrior, but for now it was just something that she was pleased with keeping up. Humming to herself under her breath while she sorted through the files, her eyes scanning through the information in front of her.

Nodding to herself when she had retained some of the information, she scooped up a large file to her chest, before leaving the room behind flicking the lights off as she left the room behind her. It was important to her now that she should immediately discuss with both Jyn and Cassian. They needed to hear some more of her updated thoughts on the woman they were trying to hunt down, at least she tried to tell herself that if they heard some of this, they could decide on how they should proceed to act.

WHOOSH

“Okay, guys, I think that I have been able to find on the woman, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to find anything concrete.” Dacia marched into the room, reaching a hand through her hair.

“Alright, well, what did you find?” Jyn prompted the woman.

“Before I get to telling you two what I found, Cassian could you fill in the blanks on some of the things that we were struggling with earlier? Before I had to run to pick up these files I mean?” Dacia asked the man, breathing heavily as she attempted to find her equilibrium.

“Right, I was thinking when you ran that Romanoff may have wanted some time to think through some of the issues that she was dealing with after the fallout of the Civil War. Don’t forget that she might have felt even more as if she was cast adrift after those actions, it's possible that the woman might have been going through an identity crisis. She has pissed away the protection of SHIELD, not matter whether or not she feels as if she wasn’t sure of what she could rely upon, her previous support net would have ripped away from her. Even if she played a big part in ripping away that support network.” Cassian remarked.

Jyn was frowning as she listened to the man, she crossed her leg and cocked her head to the side. Some of the things that the man was saying, tracked with what she could guess about the woman’s psyche.

“That makes sense, if she was the one who was seen to have ripped away that support net for a lot of people who might have otherwise relied on, a comforting shadow at their backs. At the time she might have felt as if her actions were good and just but I think we know, perhaps better than most, how easy it can be for us to be misled by something into doing something that we don’t feel comfortable enough doing in normal circumstances.” Jyn theorised.

“That’s fair enough, I still haven’t been able to get out of my head some of the most obvious downfalls of the Jedi ethos. That doesn’t factor in where Designation (Former): Captain America ties in though?” Dacia lightly responded.

“No, but don’t you see? I am starting to wonder whether or not the woman felt like she was struggling to deal with some of the issues in the immediate aftermath. When she agreed with Designation (Former): Captain America, that they should hide how Designation: Iron Man, parent’s might have died. In doing so, she tied herself to Designation (Former): Captain America so completely, to her at that point it might have made even more sense, but she had effectively tied herself to a man that didn’t see anything wrong with hiding a man’s parents ultimate fate. We might be able to say that we doubt her actions, but to her, they might have seemed like they made perfect sense. It might not be anything big for us to consider, but Romanoff might not have been used to having too much of a long leash. Sure, she might have had some small amount of independence but she still would have had some small amount of surveillance.” Jyn tried to explain even more.

“That explains some of that, but I feel as if we need to discuss even more about how the woman came into being, would you like to hear what I found out?” Dacia impishly asked.

“Don’t leave us having a woman! Did you find anything that could help us?” Cassian impatiently prompted the woman, becoming tense as he realised that it didn’t look as if the woman was going to continue.

“Right, I wasn’t able to find anything that we can rely on, at least not for now, but I was able to find some interesting coincidences. Namely that there were too many coincidences for me to wave them away as being something which I am more than comfortable doing. I was able to find notes of mine that indicated that the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989. On the surface, while I don’t think that that particular episode has anything to relate to the employment of Romanoff, but it is interesting to note that at the time the Soviet Union was already beginning to crumble that the woman changed employment. But getting back to my point, the Stark parents were assassinated in mid-December 1991, just under two weeks later the government in Moscow crumbled.” Dacia told the two, beginning to get into her stride.

“Okay, so she might have known enough to guess which way the wind was blowing, what does that have to do with anything we are working on now?” Cassian cut in, realising that if they didn’t cut her off at the head, she could be reasonably be expected to go on all day.

“I’m getting to that, I can’t be sure if on the surface the woman was guided by political concerns. We have both seen the videos of the woman interrogating Loki before his invasion back in 2012, right? We need to try and look further into some of her motives, for now I am not comfortable in making a statement about whether or not the political climate guided her actions. It is more likely that she felt herself becoming disillusioned with what she was doing and who her employers were. If it’s possible that she simply traded in her former employer for another with albeit a brighter façade, at that point they weren’t that different.” Dacia waved off the man’s concern, explaining.

“Okay but what can that tell us for now? We need to be able to work through this mess?” Cassian prompted, once again becoming pissed off as the woman slowly led them along a path of answers.

“I’m getting to that, for now we have to be sure I can’t be sure whether or not the woman’s politics might have led her to make a change in who her employers were. She is too much of a pragmatic operator to allow herself to make such a huge change without being prompted. We might not be able to get our questions answered satisfactorily, maybe ever. We can work from some of what we know to try and fill in the blanks though. It is something that we are most likely always going to have to deal with, some of her actions. For now, though it’s interesting to follow some of the parallels between a potential downfall of a world Superpower, so far I don’t feel like I could say the two are unrelated.”

“Alright but that doesn’t explain a possible connection between the two. Come on Dacia, you need to connect the dots here! How can we draw a connection between the two, because for now, it doesn’t seem as if we could draw a concrete connection between the two, at least not without reaching. So far there doesn’t seem to be anything that we point at and say that ‘yup, that’s why that happened’, have you seen anything that we might be able to point towards, to back up what you are trying to get at?” Jyn frowned, trying to draw the woman back to the matter at hand.

“I thought that too, but the woman was pragmatic, right? So, at the back of her mind she possibly thought that she didn’t want to have her revenue stream dry up. She knew herself enough to be comfortable enough with stating that one of the things at the back of her mind was that she would not have found it easy the to work at something else.” Dacia lazily remarked.

“It’s true you know, but if someone comes out of working as an assassin, it can be very hard to make a transition back to normal civilian life. The first kill is always the most difficult and it can sometimes feel as if everytime you drop a body for want of a better phrase, it feels as if parts of your soul are chipped away. It doesn’t matter whether or not the kills were righteous, you will have in the back of your mind that those people had stories and backgrounds, to someone in their life they might have been a brilliant person.” Cassian interjected feeling like he had to give his five cents.

“See I thought about that, we can’t get bogged down in the minutia of the woman’s psyche, there are other things that we needed to be working with. What I do want to point out though is that the woman might not be able to separate herself from some of the decisions she had taken. For all of the things we have to worry about, we have to begin thinking about whether or not the woman was able to completely recognise that her actions with have consequences and something tells me that she wasn’t ready to accept. It might take us a lot of work to begin finding her.” Dacia told the two thoughtfully.

“That still doesn’t explain some of what you suspect about the woman, Dacia, would you like to explain even more?” Cassian prompted, becoming even more frustrated that it seemed to take them all day to get to the heart of what should be a simple answer.

“Right, sorry about that, we can’t wave away the woman’s state of mind, not while there are still some looming questions, but we can begin to fill in the blanks on some of the questions. With the help of K I was able to find some documents that might suggest that the woman didn’t defect so much as was pushed in the direction that she later took. We were able to find some evidence that the woman might have found her new employment, through shady backroom dealing, rather than through any noble actions on her part in wanting to defect. Even though former Director Carter was nearing her retirement, she was able to use the sighting of Designation: Winter Soldier being spotted, to get some merits. I can’t be sure of how the topic was broached, or even if the woman was completely clear on who she was negotiating with. In any case, it would not make a bit of difference and while it is unclear, we can still use the fact that the woman found herself on SHIELD’s radar. At the time Nick Fury was being groomed to become a director of the agency, and he might have been fed some information about how to go about finding the woman but he didn’t know everything.” Dacia explained, feeling her throat become a little dry as she tried to go through some of the matters that she felt she needed to explain.

“What Dacia means and isn’t able to adequately explain, is that while some of Fury’s directions might not make complete and utter sense, he isn’t completely guilty in this matter. He might not have felt able to completely give in and lose his temper, but needless to say that he knew enough to know that there was a bigger game going on. What we do know is that the woman, is in for a lot of trouble, there has to be something that we can answer on. Taking into account that the man would have suddenly ended up with a deadly assassin, he was able to work the situation to his advantage, he would have to wait long enough for the background checks and psych evals on the woman to go through.” K provided.

“While the deep-dive into the woman’s background is interesting, always handy to understand more about a foe. Can we use this information to find her now?” Cassian remarked, leaving part of his thought unfinished.

“It looks like we might be able to use some of what we were able to find about the woman, but for now it seems as if we are being hailed?” K calmly (and cryptically) told the group.

“From where? Nobody should know that we are here, who was even smart enough to break through to our communications, K work with BODHI, we need to know if we are in an elevated sense of danger here.” Cassian commanded beginning to look slightly tense and panicked.

The room was filled with a nervous kind of tension, while they waited on the two AIs to complete their scans of the room. Cassian had made his way over to one of the computer setups and tapped through a few of the screens, peering intently at the screen in front of him. Clicking his tongue against his gum as he frowned at the screen, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

Becoming more and more disillusioned with what he termed as some of the frustrating part of this particular part of the Universe. He found some of the technological advances to be genuinely mystifying, the approach to some of the advancements he found to be piecemeal. When he was able to work out some of his general impressions, he found it to better to approach the whole thing from a lackadaisical purpose. Any advancements that he had been able to find, had quickly been weaponized, there didn’t seem to be lot that he was able to see that had been invented (and then used) as a thing just because, everything was turned into how could this be used to make as much chaos as possible.

He realised that he wasn’t one to talk, unfortunately in his Home Universe things had all too often been turned into weapons. It was a sad state of affairs to find completely normal, but sadly with a Galaxy-wide civil war, there were always going to be people pushing for weapons. He had become uncomfortably familiar with weapons that could kill the most and make the biggest bang. 

Part of the reason that he felt he enjoyed mucking around in the small engineering room was that he wasn’t particularly likely to see the things he managed to throw together be used to hurt someone. The only occasional things that he saw turned into weapons, were more used to keep them safe from harm, because he had been able to resign himself to the knowledge that anything invented on their part couldn’t be used to hurt anyone.

He still wondered from time to time whether or not any of his friends (though the term allies might be more apt) at home would believe that Cassian was not the greatest inventor onboard the spaceship. That crown had belonged to Jyn, he guessed that the apple did not fall far from the tree. Even if had taken the woman an extraordinary amount of time to trust her new friends. Cassian didn’t feel as if he could blame the woman – he was sure that it had taken the woman a while to realise that she no longer had to run, not now that her life depended on it in any case.

He was pleased to have been able to provide that sense of relief to the woman, he might not have been in as much of an immediate sense of danger, during his time working for the Resistance. He might have been a spy, aware at every waking moment that he could be in danger, but it wasn’t as if he could claim a close bosom relationship. It was helpful to remember that even if he hadn’t constantly been looking over his shoulder, aware that at any point if he was ‘made’ then it could be a drastically reduced life.

Stormtroopers could be notoriously bad shots, but it only took one lucky (or as it would be for him unlucky) and it would be bye bye Cassian.

Frowning and grumbling a bit more when he caught sight of something, he scrolled back hurriedly and scanned his eyes over what he had spotted a few times. Could this be it?

“K-2SO were you able to find anything?” Cassian asked, his voice betraying a small bundle of nerves.

“So far, we have not been able to find the kind of information that you may find helpful Agent Andor.” K responded curtly.

Cassian felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, it wasn’t often that the robot should feel a desire to refer to Cassian as his (one of) designations from back in his spying days. Not needed to look into the faces of Dacia and Jyn to know that the two of them were exchanging confused looks behind his back.

Cursing softly, Cassian scanned and rescanned the readouts in front of him, trying to find any clue that might guide him to what was going on. For now, he felt like this might lead him to some answers. Tapping through a few more of the screens in front of him, trying to work out if what he was reading was accurate, he decided that it would be for the best if he simply asked. For now, it didn’t look as if he would find the answers unless he asked for help.

“K-2SO, am I reading this correctly? Should they have been able to find us as easily? I thought Jyn was just keeping an eye on them from a distance.” Cassian demanded from the AI.

“It seems as if they might be slightly more intelligent than we gave them credit, would you like me to contact them?”

Cassian found himself becoming once again amazed at the capabilities and emotions that the AI’s could display. He had known enough that in this Universe, if anybody worked out that they had not but two Artificial Intelligence’s capable of human behaviour, they could be summarily thrown into an awkward situation. It was after filing away this information in his head that he smirked when he heard either K-2SO or BODHI sound as if they were sniffing.

“If you can excuse the intrusion, I have been able to find where Ms Erso, may have tripped their attention. It appears to show that those people are more observant and have a very good and pro-active worker ensuring their cybersecurity. For now, if you would like to answer them, between K and me, we can make sure that they won’t be able to get any further into our files.” BODHI tentatively told the small group.

Dacia sighed, rolling her eyes, “Yes, put them on and make sure that if any of them should attempt to get into our files that they can’t find their way. In the meantime though, we should keep our hoods up, at least until we can sure whether or not we can trust these people.”

Looking over at her two friends to check whether or not her instructions were being followed, she waited a few seconds before signalling to BODHI to connect them. She was beginning to feel pissed, it had been too long since she had felt satisfied with getting the answers that she felt that she could demand. It was time, she felt that she showed people exactly why she and her friends should not be trifled with. It was not immediately clear how the trio was supposed to handle this next step. Taking a small breath while she looked between her friends, she felt like she couldn’t trust the two as they tried to decide how to proceed.

It wasn’t going to be an easy decision to make, Dacia didn’t want to overplay her hand and get them further into trouble. If she got herself further into difficulty, worse still if the two beside her got into trouble because she got irritated and arrogant and acted through her hot-headed actions, she wouldn’t be able to rest easy. The last thing that she wanted was to land someone else in trouble all because she couldn’t reign herself in. It was important to remember though, that it wouldn’t serve them well if they were to be underestimated, she could possibly have to play this by ear.

Looking between her friends, Dacia tried to nod between the two, feeling as if the two could trust her now to keep her best interests in mind. Directing her eyes to a blank stretch of wall, she crossed her arms together, steeling herself to maintain a tough façade.

She needed to throw up both screens on her body language, she didn’t need to have them question her and make awkward (and regrettable) decisions based on her behaviour. Finally the answering picture showed up on the wall in front of them, they could see a group of people sitting at a long table, most likely a conference room style table. Taking in the sight of some assorted people gathered together, Dacia pulled towards her the old screen of her personality, willing herself to wear it like a smokescreen.

“You have gotten my attention was there any need for you try to attack our systems like that?” Dacia imperiously asked, deciding that it was time to put her best foot forward. 

Cassian briefly noticed that Dacia hadn’t introduced them, he wondered if she was playing up her personality to try and confuse the other two. He wondered if it was even possible that the woman could ever stop playing the pointless politics game, he found that it could be so confusing trying to understand how the game was played but that it was usually worth all of his confusion.

“Right, maybe introductions are in order, my name is Mallory, that is Tanner, he is my right-hand man here at Mi6. That man over there is Q he is the head of the cyber department for want of a better term. May we know who we are speaking with please?” one of the guys wearing an Oxford Collar shirt with a blue tie.

“Except you felt, that you didn’t introduce everyone now did? There is at least one other man and a woman standing in the shadows that you think we can’t see, tell me if this game ever gets boring to you. Now are you going to be honest? You were the ones who broke into our systems after all.” Dacia challenged, a look of competition entering into her eyes as she spoke.

“Excuse me? You were the ones who broke into our systems after all. It was a quiet thing that I probably wasn’t supposed to spot, but I wonder how you managed to do that, I didn’t recognise your signature. Tell me why don’t you have a signature?” the man named Q demanded.

Dacia glanced at Jyn, gesturing at the woman that she could take the stage if she wanted. This part was her show after all, there was no point in Dacia attempting to take credit for something that she hadn’t personally done, she had long ago promised herself that she wouldn’t be that kind of leader. Jyn looked at her friend and nodded, pulling forth her bad ass persona veiling her nerves.

“There are more things out there than you are aware off, you wouldn’t recognise mine even if you knew what you were looking for. Is there any particular reason that you have so rudely gained our attention? That doesn’t normally play out well, so I’m wondering why are you?” Jyn challengingly told them, looking at them imperiously.

Cassian watched in silence as it looked as the members on the screen in front of him began to bristle up. He wondered if that was a common thing – to doubt the intelligence of anyone surrounding you. If it was, he couldn’t see it playing out well, it was disappointing to think, but at the same time it was mildly amusing. It wasn’t often that Jyn was doubted, so to see anyone try it always brought a little smirk to his face.

“Right now, that doesn’t matter, Q noted that you were going through the files looking in particular for one Natalia Romanova, if you could tell us why, maybe we could help each other out.” Tanner held up a hand trying to keep the peace.

Cassian wondered if this was a default action with the man. It had to be if the man was used to working in close conjunction with such loud personalities. He found himself briefly sympathising with the man, he knew how it could to constantly feel as if you had to keep the peace. It sometimes fell to him, even if he would prefer to simply watch things begin to develop around him, he would sometimes blame his old job as a spy for leaving him with this reflex action. It would always seem to him to find things more interesting to watch and see how things proceeded around him.

“We want to ask her some questions about her actions taken during the so-called ‘Avengers Civil War’ and some of her earlier actions during the fall of SHIELD. Do you have anything you would like to tell us to help us find the woman?” Dacia asked, suddenly deciding to lay her cards on the table.

“We want to ask her some answer for some of her actions during the Fall of SHIELD as well, I don’t think we need to point out the amount of lives that she cost during that time. We lost a number of good men and women who were working in conjunction with SHIELD. Would you like to work with us to find her.” Mallory spoke calmly, seeing an opportunity open up in front of him.

Cassian surveyed the man calmly and imperceptibly he nodded at Dacia, yes it was time for them to take this deal.

“Very well, but I think that if you need any more information, you had better email me, I can send you through a link to my email. Let me know if you have any further information about the whereabouts of the woman, I feel I don’t need to point out how imperative it is that she should answer some of the questions that we still have for her.” Dacia told the group assembled on the screen.

Mallory carefully nodded, taking care to hide his feelings behind a carefully constructed wall. Cassian stared at the man, once again trying to work out what was going on in the man’s head.

WHOOSH

Hidden away from the rest of the cells, James lay on the bed staring at the wall of his cell. He had been smart enough to take care to hide his face, he didn’t want Stevie to be able to see him. There were still some questions that he felt he had to ask himself, if he had his way he would have already asked these people some of the things that now she felt like deserved to know.

He had spent too long not being able to trust himself, not being able to trust some of the emotions that swam up without him knowing when they had come from, not able to recognise their origin. He had long ago felt that he would be trapped behind a hazy screen, occasionally able to see through a foggy wall in his mind, watching like a passenger in his body as it committed terrible acts.

He had felt as if he had been betrayed by his own body, unable to trust his mind, simply because it had always led him straight back to the people who were hurting him. One of the things that he had questioned was that it wasn’t the first time he had met some of these people. He could feel a horrible fear welling up in his system, telling him to get away from the woman. Right now, he wanted to be able to avoid the woman and he wanted to get away from the woman. He might feel confused about how Stevie looked now, but he still felt a reflexive urge to protect his friend.

It might feel confusing to him that he didn’t know enough to know how far they had come in this century. The one thing that confused him was that Stevie had chosen to fight alongside her. He couldn’t understand why the man who he had grown up with, who had taken great amounts of joy in claiming ‘to the end of the line’ would willingly work alongside a woman that he had known had come from an organisation that he had professed to hate.

He might not have the clearest of memories of his time with HYDRA, but he went through some of the files in the time afterwards. He had known that the woman had taken joy in learning some of her craft against him. Some of the files he had managed to glimpse had shown him that the woman had learned even more of her craft through torturing civilians, enemies of HYDRA. It was noted that the woman had taken some perverse pleasure in inflicting pain, she would willingly hurt anyone who even looked at her funny.

She might talk a good game about being a prisoner, and maybe she had been treated like that after the experimentation but she was a willing convert. James was familiar enough with the idea that people could change, goodness knows that he felt he had changed throughout his life. There were some things that he knew could not be changed, not without a great deal of effort and introspection.

Something told him that the woman was not accustomed to looking at her actions through a critical lens. Frowning as he wondered whether or not it was likely the woman would take notice of the fact that he could whisper all of her dirty little secrets. 

Smiling grimly to himself as he realised that it was likely that if given enough time he could become a thorn in the side of the woman. It was likely that the woman would begin to wish that he would meet an agonising end. Or maybe the woman would begin to question what actions she would take to make herself look good, because in his eyes it was unlikely that the woman would think of doing anything else to silence him simply for knowing how she was wired.

It was interesting to watch how the woman strove to keep him silent. It bore questioning though, what exactly was the Witch Bitch expecting him to be able to do? They were locked up and it didn’t look like they were getting free any time soon, so what did she have up her sleeve to deal with the man?

James thought that something didn’t feel right and he would have to keep his eyes open. He didn’t trust the woman any further than he could throw her. She also led him to questions of whether or not he could trust the group.

What had happened to the man he had grown up with?

Had all of these people fall into the thrall of the woman?

Were they supposed to be spies capable of cutting through the bullshit that the woman was putting down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really use it a lot but look me up on Tumblr, https://littleroma.tumblr.com/


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tension ramps up onboard the spaceship, the gang try to pin down Romanoff even further. May the Fourth Be With You!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh dear my head is a little sore

Running a hand through her hair as she tried to consider whether or not it was likely that they would have still taken this job if they had known that there were likely to be a great amount of work attached afterwards.  Casting a sidelong glance at Cassian, she wondered what the man was thinking, what was going through his head when he thought of this job.  Did he regret also going on this mission?  Did Jyn regret this as well?  Dacia felt guilt well up in her when she thought that it wasn’t the kind of life she would have wanted for her friend.

 

One of the things that plagued Dacia to no end was the feeling that while Jyn might have been comfortable with the idea of running for her life, or at least as comfortable as one could be having already lived that life.  Dacia had hoped that when she had taken the two onboard, that she had hoped that the woman wouldn’t have to go back to running the same type of missions.  Alas, if wishes were kisses, wasn’t that how the common saying went?  Something like that that in any case!

 

Shaking her head, like a dog trying to clear her head of flies, Dacia tried to clear the thoughts from her mind, so that she could focus on the task at hand.

 

“Okay, so it is more important than ever, that we work together.  Were we able to find anything we can use?” Dacia asked, a note of despondence entering into her voice.

 

“No, but maybe we should run it from the beginning.  If we come at it from a new angle, we might be able to come across something.” Cassian told the other two women throwing a bouncy ball up and down.

 

Dacia blinked at the bouncy ball; she wasn’t sure where the man might have found a bouncy ball.  She shook her head; the man would always manage to surprise her, he had always managed to do things that still managed to surprise him.  It would never matter how long she lived and fought alongside the man, but he usually managed to get the upper hand, through anticipating her actions.  Jyn simply shook her head at the man, Dacia might still show her emotions from time to time, but Jyn realised that it was better to simply allow things to fall where they may and not give away too many of her emotions.

 

She might doubt that the man wouldn’t use those emotions and indicators against her, but it would probably always take her a long time where she felt that she could fully trust anyone.  It didn’t particularly help that she had blamed the man for so long, she had thought that she could blame the man for her father’s death.  By now Jyn was far enough from that horrible episode, she could now see how grief could warp and twist everything in its path.  It wasn’t fair for her to have blamed the man, she could see that Cassian had intended to take a shot, maybe because superior officers had told him that if he fired a kill shot at Galen Erso, then the dreaded Death Star might not have obtained. 

 

Cassian had only felt relief when he had been able to convince Jyn that he hadn’t killed her father, that it wasn’t him that squeezed the trigger.  He had seen the man attempt to stop Krennic from shooting the other researchers earning a back-handed slap from Krennic before the other researchers were ordered shot.  Cassian had managed to ferret out their names; Rasett Milio, Vlex Onopin, Ames Urovan, Sirro Arogonne and Feyn Vann.  He had not been particuraly surprised to learn that the Resistance had had these men under surveillance, they might not have posed as much a threat to the Resistance as Galen Erso had, but it was still important to keep an eye on any of the men associated with the Empire’s dangerous weapons researchers.

 

He had watched with a sinking feeling in his gut as he watched some Resistance fighters fly in and assassinate the remaining members.  He had been filled with rage when he realised that General Davits Davin had feared the worst when he realised there was a communications blackout on Eadu, had ordered a strike on the planet.  Cassian had felt confused when he realised that he could not reconcile himself with all of the newfound feelings and emotions he felt towards the former criminal.  K-2SO wasn’t particularly helpful; the robot couldn’t completely empathise with human emotions.

 

“We knew going into this that we weren’t going to have an easy job, but there are some leads that we can follow to find her.  It didn’t seem like we were going to be lucky enough to find her in the first place we looked, which was Saudi Arabia, that would have struck me as being too easy.  We can use some of the things that we were able to find there to point us in the right direction hopefully.  Did we even manage to find anything concrete that points us in her direction?” Dacia asked, folding her arms as she thought through some of the things that they would have to deal with now.

 

“No, well not as you would term it.  We did manage to find indications that the woman had been at one stage in the country, but needless to say, she isn’t there anymore.  I imagine that she might have found it a little stifling that she couldn’t take the same amount of liberties any longer.  It is possible that we can track the woman down if we attempt to go through some of what we know for definite about the woman.  It’s more than likely that we put ourselves in the woman’s shoes, we might be able to think like the woman.  I have thought that if we can find any remaining hint of where the woman might have run too.  I was thinking that she is likely to be looking for somewhere to hide out, if we can work that out, we might find her.” Jyn muttered, sighing.

 

“We were Looking for some of those things; it doesn’t seem like we will easily be able to find anything that we can use to find the woman.  But I’m struggling to find anything concrete, that we can use to find the woman for real.” Cassian told the two.

 

“Right, no that’s fine, but for now can we, please focus?  We need to find this woman before she does damage to anyone else.  If we strip it back to basics, what can we find about the woman?  What are the core aspects of her personality?  If we can find something there, we might be even a little bit closer to finding the woman.” Dacia remarked, with a raised eyebrow.

 

“I was thinking about this, and we know that the woman would want to have somewhere that she could hide away without running the risk of being spotted.  If she is as good a spy as claims to be she wouldn’t be too concerned about running the risk of being arrested.  She would also be concerned enough that she would want to keep an eye on the global scene.  It would probably also factor into her choice that she could quickly be able to escape the country, whichever country she eventually landed in would have to have an easy route built in.” Jyn theorised, speaking aloud her thoughts.

 

“That’s good, but do you think that we should keep an idea in the back of our head that the woman might not focus on choosing to live in a country which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the States.  In so thinking her choices might skew slightly more to her other priorities.  Do any countries have warrants out for her arrest?” Cassian asked, looking over at Jyn.

 

Jyn took a chance to tap a few buttons, looking at the information on the screen and muttering under her breath.

 

“There aren’t any existing warrants out for her arrest per say, but I think that it’s likely that Germany for one would like to speak to her.  Especially when it comes out that the woman is _THE_ person who let Designation (Former): Captain America and Designation: Winter Soldier escape at the airport.  It doesn’t matter if the woman tried to claim the excuse that she was doing it just to stop the fighting, they had a sworn statement by King T’Challa of Wakanda that he had been harmed by the woman.  While she may have been on the ‘good’” here Jyn raised her fingers to make the quotations more apparent “side; the German authorities will want to speak to someone.  If they can’t get into contact with any of the ‘Rogue Avengers’ they are going to want to speak to anyone they can get into contact with.” Jyn told the small group.

 

“Okay, that makes sense, General Ross took them out of circulation before anyone else could sweep in and question them.  I am unsure if Vienna will want to speak to her, she didn’t cause any harm in Vienna through her actions as an Avenger.” Dacia told the two.

 

“But didn’t she whisper in T’Challa’s ear and get him riled up enough to pursue Designation: Winter Soldier?” Cassian wondered.

 

“No, she might have been able to sink her hooks into the man at that stage.  But I’m more convinced that the man was able to use the resources of the Dora Milaje.  He wouldn’t have had to break a sweat to track down Designation: Winter Soldier, don’t forget that he would have been motivated to go on the hunt.  With that kind of motivation, I dread to think what any of us in this room could achieve.” Jyn supplied the man.

 

“Right, he thought that the man had killed his father, of course, the man was out for revenge.” Cassian shrugged, able to understand the man’s motivations.

 

“Goodness knows I could have easily gone down that path after I held my Papa in my arms as he died.  Wouldn’t you have gone down that path though Dacia if you had been painted into a corner?” Jyn asked the woman, wanting to understand a bit more about her secretive and mysterious friend.

 

“Oh uh, I didn’t know my parents, so please leave me out of this,” Dacia warned, looking discomfited with some of the attention that she was now attracting.

 

“Wait, how didn’t you know your parents?  You seem like a sensible woman, how didn’t you know them?” Jyn asked shocked.

 

“I’m a Jedi, or was anyway.” Dacia shrugged, not liking having people staring at her for something that she couldn’t help.

 

Jyn looked over at Cassian, watching as the man nodded at her, she hoped the man would be able to shed some light on the situation.  She wanted to reach some further answers, right now she just hoped that Cassian would be able to provide some answers for her.

 

“Right now, that isn’t important, can we work out if she would aim to settle down in a large city?  Or would she prefer to live in the country somewhere?” Dacia asked attempting to redirect attention.

 

“As we said earlier, she would want to live in a country where she could fly under the radar and keep an eye on things.  It’s that makes me think that the woman might naturally be more drawn to larger cities, where she could see easier blend into the background.  At the same time, though, she might not want to run into an increased risk of being accidentally spotted on CCTV.” Cassian broke the tense (and awkward) atmosphere by cutting in.

 

Dacia sent the man a grateful look; there was nothing she dreaded more than having to own up to something she had previously said.

 

“So, that probably leaves out London; I don’t care how good that woman thinks she is at her job, she wouldn’t take a great unnecessary risk, right?  London would be pushing her luck too much for her to feel comfortable with, she couldn’t possibly be precisely that reckless right?” Dacia double-checked.

 

“Normally I would agree with you, but Dacia we have to remember that these aren’t normal people that we are dealing with, the absolute last thing we should do is count our chickens before they’re hatched.  She might decide that taking the risk would appeal nicely to her adrenaline-seeking brain.  Do we know how many languages she can speak?  That could limit her movements; language or at least the languages might at the very least limit her that she doesn’t speak fluently enough to pass undetected.  Cassian do we have access to a list of those languages?” Jyn reminded the woman.

 

“Yeah, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to narrow down the potential list enough for us.  She speaks Russian, English, German, Bosnian, Hungarian, Romanian, Castillian Spanish, Czech, Italian, Latin, Dutch, Arabic, American Sign Language, moderate Portuguese, marginal Urdu and a little Afrikaans.  Damn, are we chasing after some wonder woman,?”  Cassian cursed.

 

“No, just someone who is very good at their job.” Dacia sighed, feeling like she was wrong-footed and feeling as if she was sure of what step to take next.

 

“No, it might not limit the list of potential countries any further, but maybe we use it to home in on her location.  What we do know is that the woman is Russian, but given how she effectively burned down her old Alma Mater, she wouldn’t have a lot of friends there that she could rely upon for help.  So if we look at it on the world map, we can start to highlight some of the countries we suspect she may go to for safe harbour.” Jyn reminded the two, trying to keep up their spirits.

 

K-2SO who was obviously listening in dutifully shone a map of the world on the wall where they had been holding the video conference with the MI6 workers.  BODHI took the opportunity to shine some light on the countries they had mentioned.  Dacia stepped forwards and ran her fingers over the map.  She was looking through some of the most recent locations, muttering under her breath about the impossibility of the task at hand.

 

Cassian muttered under his breath, as his eyes raked over the map in front of him.  He tried to work out where exactly the woman was likely to go to ground.  Frowning briefly to himself when he realised that he couldn’t make any sense from the woman’s headspace.  He found himself flicking her fingers as he heard Dacia’s gentle prodding in his head.  He should have long ago made himself take a step back, start to look at this thing as if it was a puzzle, something that he just had to solve for fun, not something that he had to solve for work.  He had long ago realised that he worked better when he wasn’t under any amount of pressure.

 

Jyn looked over at the map and tried to work out whether or not she would have to make sure that she understood all of the rules to this frankly bizarre game.  Raising her hand once again, Jyn tapped her fingers and muttered to herself as she thought that she could begin to see a pattern emerge.  Sighing when she realised that this was usually the way, she had always been more of a visual learner.

 

“BODHI, do you see this as well?  I’m starting to see a bit of a pattern emerge?  Tell me that one of you guys see this?” Jyn asked, feeling a bit of excitement infuse her face for the first time.

 

“I’m a bit more confused at how she learned Castellan Spanish but didn’t think to trouble herself with Spanish.  The two languages aren’t that similar are they?” Dacia double-checked, still feeling as if she couldn’t see what Jyn had become excited about.

 

“Yes and no, Castellan Spanish, which originates from the center of Spain, is said to be the root part of Spanish.” Cassian sighed, idly raising a hand to scratch at the back of his head.

 

“Okay, well right now, that isn’t as important as it otherwise would be, we need to work on running the woman down.  We can’t find the woman if we stand around theorising about the woman’s actions.  Is there anything that we can use to find the woman.” Dacia told the two, thoughtfully peering at the map in front of her.

 

“I thought that I could see something begin to appear when I noticed that most of these languages have basis in European languages.  Dacia email the people back at MI6, let them know what we have found, they might be able to get into some security cameras that we haven’t spotted yet.  Tell them to keep an eye on European countries with good access to possible escape routes.  She can’t possibly be so arrogant that she waves away the possibility that she should have the chance to make an easy escape.” Jyn told the woman, still peering at the map.

 

“Rightio ho, what did I just say, I will do that right away, in the mean time try and brain storm any ideas on where we could potentially find the woman.  For heavens sake she can’t have completely disappeared, no one is that good!” Dacia said cringing when she heard what she was saying.

 

Jyn smirked at the woman, having heard what Dacia had said.  She nodded at the woman and noticed the woman disappeared behind a computer screen, not doubt that the woman was currently composing the email that she had talked about. 

 

Looking over at the other man, Jyn wandered over to the man and looked over his shoulder at some of the lists he was looking over.  Jyn frowned when she realised that it looked as if the man was having some difficulties with what he was seeing.  She realised with a start that it looked as if the man was frowning for a good reason.

 

“What is it?  What’s wrong?” Jyn muttered, not wanting to disturb Dacia.

 

“These languages like we were saying are mostly from European states, the fact that she was born in Russia, lends credence to the belief that she would pick up those languages, simply because she was in proximity to people who spoke those languages,” Cassian whispered back, jumping because he hadn’t realised that Jyn had stepped so close to him.

 

“Yes, that’s possible, but for now we need to be sure, my thinking is that if we can cross off a few of these countries, then it might narrow down wherever it is that she has chosen to go to ground,” Jyn told the man.

 

“I’ve been working on trying to recover some of the files from her time with the Red Room; it’s possible that she was trained in those languages as a matter of necessity and survival.  After all, what good is an assassin and spy that can’t go underground in the countries immediately surrounding the country she works for?  I think though, that based on some of the other things we have read about the current political climate in those countries, lent a hint to her not being able to take shelter there.” Cassian urgently told the woman.

 

“That what I was afraid of, but for BODHI could you mark off those countries, that due to the current political landscape in those countries?” Jyn asked the AI.

 

Immediately on the screen in front of them, some of the Balkan state countries were marked in red with an asterisk.  Cocking her head to the side, Jyn looked at the map and began to point out some of the large countries.

 

“It doesn’t look as if she could hide as easily in London, namely the whole CCTV thing.  She wouldn’t seem like the type who would go to great lengths to make her life more difficult.  Something tells me that the woman would pass up on anything that would potentially make her life easier because she would enjoy living too much to run the risk of ending it on a fool’s errand.  The question is though, would she go to any lengths to achieve that sweet high?” Jyn wondered, pointing out some of the locations as she spoke aloud.

 

“That only slightly narrows it down, we may not have a lot to work with, but at least we have something.  Say, Dacia normally you can see things that would not even occur to us.  Can you think of anything that might point us in the right direction?” Cassian tried hopefully, looking over at his friend, maybe she would have some idea on where they should look next?

 

“At first glance, I can’t think of anything that we could immediately look to, especially to give us ideas.  But all is not lost, it seems as if we could get an answer from those people in London.  There might be something that they can tell us, in any case, Jyn look to emailing Ms Potts and Ms Hill, between the two of them, they may have some idea on how we can look to approach this problem?” Dacia told the two, relieved that she was beginning to find her feet.

 

“Right away, there might be something that they can tell us.” Jyn nodded before turning to one of the computers.

 

 **TO:** V. Potts, M. Hill

 

 **From:** J. Erso

 

 **CC:** D. Lewis, C. Andor

 

_I am writing to you now because we are about to enter into the final stage of looking for Designation: Black Widow.  We have been able to make some contact with other intelligence agencies, but for right now, we are going to need to find the woman.  If there is anything that you can think of that could give us a bit of a direction in which we are looking, please don’t hesitate to share it with us._

_We may have dropped off Dr Foster, but we need to know if there is any direction we should aim our search, please inform us.  For now, we may need a little more time before we can find the woman, in any case, once we have completed some of our preliminary searches for the woman, we will be back with the rest of the Avengers._

_Talk to you soon,_

_Jyn Erso._

Jyn, sighed, not feeling completely satisfied with the email that she had written out, it would always seem to be the way that she should have some difficulty with sounding like a cool and calm professional person.  At least when it came to her wanting answers in a hurry.  Running a hand through her hair as she tried to come to terms with what she was now looking for, she would no doubt find it difficult to concentrate on anything else, for now at least answers were going to be more important.

 

“Okay, maybe we can get an answer from that, from either of them, but for now we have to be prepared to look for her ourselves.  Leave no stone unturned and all that rot right?” Cassian remarked wryly, leaning back against the computer table behind him as he spoke.

 

Dacia sent an odd look over at the man; she would sometimes hear her friend say the oddest of things.  Stifling a snort, she wondered at what point; she should start to accept that her friend had picked up on some of the clichés that he was starting to come out with.  It had seemed like it would be more likely that it would have been Jyn who picked them up. Certainly, it would seem like it had been Jyn who spent more time streaming through the endless back-catalogues of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.  Dacia could smirk to herself; she sometimes loved the life onboard a spaceship.  Even if she thought that she could do with easier access to showers.

 

“We should be able to get any answers soon, now tell me what you were thinking about this map?  It appears that I missed some things while I was composing that email.” Dacia asked the two, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand.

 

“Right, I thought that if we could see the possible locations of all the places in the world where Romanova has a connection with.  I opted to look at places where she speaks the language, and where there is a slightly heavier concentration of CCTV footage.  I imagine that for all we have heard about the woman’s supposedly incredibly use of her spycraft.” Jyn started before muttering “Not that I have seen much evidence of stellar skills when it comes to the tradecraft.”

 

Cassian snorted, appreciating the amount of faith that Jyn was showing him.

 

“Okay, so where have you marked off?” Dacia politely asked, having enjoyed the byplay of the woman and the man.

 

“For now, we might have been able to put a tentative cross over Russia, or even countries immediately surrounding Russia, they might not like the idea of having such a black mark.  At the same time, we could mark off Germany, because they are going to be actively wanting to find the woman and ask her questions, especially after the dust-up at the airport.” Jyn told the woman.

 

“Germany would not doubt by now gotten access to Designation: Black Panther’s statement regarding that fight, especially if they were motivated, which I suspect they would be.  So, it’s unlikely that the woman would choose to hide in Germany, not unless she would have some way to guarantee her safety.  That depends on whether or not she is a massive thrill seeker and something tells me that she wouldn’t want to put herself through any unnecessary pain.  She might denigrate the man, but she wouldn’t have Tony Stark’s generous pockets to fall back on, should she get herself into trouble.” Cassian supplied the woman.

 

“Okay, now why is London blacked out?  While she speaks English, the city would theoretically provide her multiple escape routes, but why is it blacked out?” Dacia asked intelligently following their discussion.

 

“For now, it looks as if the woman wouldn’t want to be near London, simply because she would want to avoid CCTV cameras, she would want to fly under the radar for as long as possible,” Jyn replied, telling the woman pointedly what she thought.

 

“Okay, and she would want to have an option to escape whatever country she landed in, right quickly?  Are we sure that the woman isn’t a thrill seeker?  That she isn’t simply looking for a thrill of adrenaline.” Dacia checked.

 

“That tracks, with what we know of the woman so far.  But I don’t think that she would push herself, not when she has made things difficult for herself thus far.  She would not be able to rely on the deep pockets of Tony Stark; it would be difficult I imagine for her to throw herself to the whims of her thrill-seeker side, not when she could simply avoid it.” Cassian answered the woman ruefully.

 

“Okay, that makes sense, can we think of anything else we should be aware of before going into this?” Dacia answered the two, steeping her fingers in front of her face as she thought aloud.

 

Startled by her words when the computer behind her beeped, Dacia turned around, wanting to know exactly what was going on.  Frowning at the flat screen, as her eyes scanned through the information directly in front of her.  Jyn looked over at the woman in concern; it wasn’t like to Dacia to become so easily side-tracked, exchanging a glance with Cassian, the two of them trying to work out exactly what was going on.  The two of them frowned at one another, not sure if they should begin to start panicking really, Cassian minutely shook his head, he didn’t think that it was time for them to begin looking for a quick way out.

 

“Okay, it seems as if they are having roughly the same difficulties that we are, namely that it is hard to know where one can count on Romanova going next.  Q though has had an idea of expanding the search to other agencies of the British Government.  Reading between the lines, I was able to glean that it might be more likely that the man has a connection to someone else within the government.” Dacia started, still sounding slightly distracted.

 

“I have managed to look through the email and trace some of the connections that the man is thinking off.  But I was able to find a connection, no matter how tentative, that he may be related to someone within MI5.” K-2SO dryly remarked.

 

“What K is speaking off, is that there might be something that we can exploit, but I can see a connection between him and someone called Mycroft.  I  haven’t been able to work out yet who that is, for now, though it could be nothing more than another bureaucrat jumped up on the feeble amount of power.  It doesn’t seem that way.” BODHI quietly told the group.

 

“No, it seems as if the man holds power, but how can we trust whether or not the man.  He looks as if he has to many fingers in too many pies for us to immediately count him out, as unimportant.  For now, though, we can’t count anyone out.  I replied to him and gave him leave to ask questions of this woman.  I felt that it was more important that we should find her with all haste, was I mistaken?” Dacia checked quickly, looking up at the people surrounding her.

 

“This doesn’t make any sense; we should be able to find one person.  For pities sake, we worked and lived in our Home Universe.  It might have been difficult, but we were at least able to keep an eye on threats and people.  How is this one woman managing to evade us?” Cassian impatiently asked, before sighing in frustration,

 

“Right now though, that isn’t the most important part, we need to be able to look beyond and see if we should use some other way.  Maybe though, we should consider using whether or not we should use some of our skills from our Home Universe?  That might help us run her down even further.” Jyn checked.

 

“Wait, are you sure that you want to go down that path?  We need to make sure that we are completely sure before we go down that path, it won’t be easy for us to walk away from it.” Cassian double checked wanting to make sure that the small group knew what they were signing themselves up for.

 

“For now, let’s put that on the back burner, you’ve seen how easy it can be to stroll down that path.  It could be difficult if we want to take back that decision.  Can we afford to trust ourselves to put that particular genie back in its box?  We might be able to trust ourselves enough to roll it back, but for now, I don’t think that we should go down that path, not until we can exhaust every option.” Dacia told the other two, thoughtfully.

 

“For now though, we should hold off on that.  The absolute last thing we want is to go through people’s data and get ourselves into trouble with someone that we don’t want to have to answer too.  We are potentially playing a long game here, and we are 100% sure that we can avoid any recriminations.” Jyn told them, looking worried about what was going to happen.

 

“You know, it is a little sad that we should ever be talking about avoiding recriminations.  Especially when we harp on about such things!” Cassian snorted.

 

“Does seem to be a case of doing as I say, not as I do, right?  Or is that just me?” Dacia sighed at the two, asking them a rhetorical question with a snort.

 

“Right, but it looks like we might be about to receive questions, questions that we don’t want to be asked.  Right now, though we have to work through this things, because for here and now, that’s all that’s changed.  Is there anything else we should work on?” Cassian told the two, running a hand through his hair.

 

“I have been thinking about this, and it seems as if we might be able to continue to work this, right now we have to work through this.  MI6 on the surface might have been a bit of a bust, but we can at least begin to work with this.  Was there anything that we can use to speed up the process?” Jyn checked with the people she was working with.

 

“So far, the only thing that I can see that has come that has been good, or advantageous towards us.  But I think that they’re onto something, it might help us.” Dacia offered, looking like something like hope was beginning to bloom in her bloom.

 

_WHOOSH_

Not a lot made sense to Wanda anymore, she still found herself wondering if it was worth it.  She couldn’t understand these feelings anymore; they didn’t make a lot of sense to her.  She had to remind herself from time to time that emotions didn’t have to make a lot of sense to be felt, but she sometimes felt as if she couldn’t put into words how conflicted she felt.

 

On the one hand, she was overjoyed that Stark had been hurt.  That he had been hurt at the hands of someone he had fought alongside for so long.  She only wondered whether or not it was likely that the rest of these cockroaches now had their eyes opened about how bad Stark was.  If there was anything good that had come out of that whole mess, it was how breathtaking it felt for her to be able to separate that demon Stark from his team.

 

The only thing that she regretted was that she hadn’t been the one to deal Stark that punishing blow.  Sure, she had thrown some cars at the man, maybe broken the disgusting man’s arms by throwing all those cars on his arm.  She couldn’t remember ever having felt so good when she wasn’t torturing someone else.  Rogers could lie to himself all he wanted, but she enjoyed causing other people pain, there was nothing more delicious that making someone see all their worst nightmares.  To know that she was the cause of that pain was just the best thing.

 

The sad thing about joining Rogers’ merry little band of thugs, was that she didn’t have the opportunity to torture people.  She could only use the excuse that she was trying to get in touch with her powers so often before she started to raise questions about her power and control.  That had been a bit of poops moment when she had realised that Rogers didn’t ever look past the end of his nose and continued to bleat it that she was still a child.  She called bullshit on that, nothing ever pissed her off that anyone is negating her experience.

 

She only wished that she could have seen the look on Stark’s face when he realised that his team had been keeping things from him.  If only she had been able to help Rogers when it came to Stark.  She would have made sure that the guy lost his head, for his actions, why did Stark deserve to live when he had killed her family?  All the things that had ever gone wrong in her life could be traced back to him and his filthy uber-capitalist ways.

 

She had wished that she could have been a thorn in the man’s side, to an even greater extent than she was.  He only had to lose the respect and comradery of his fellow teammates.  Something that she thought was a loss not as steep as the one she had to pay.  All her life from losing her parents and grandparents in that horrid bombing by Stark and then she had to lose her beloved twin brother thanks to Stark’s reckless actions and arrogance.

 

She could remember having heard something about the iron price; she didn’t know where it had come from.  She would always regret that she hadn’t been able to see the light leaving the man’s eyes when that shield had come down on him.  She couldn’t understand why Clint had become pissy with Rogers when he had watched the video; the man had known that Stark would have to pay.  He had seen the conditions that she was subjected to in that prison, but curiously Wanda thought (and knew) that she had felt worse when she was a member of HYDRA.  Clint was clearly softer than she had initially thought.  If she was able to play up her traumatisation after those actions, to ensure that she could still enjoy the man’s sympathy (no matter how much it stuck in her throat) and continue to encourage their Anti-Stark sentiment.

 

She would have to be careful now that the rest of them had seen that video, she was beginning to become concerned about the man’s well-being.  Wanda might no longer have access to her powers; she would have to be careful that they didn’t begin to realise what she truly thought of Stark.  She had to wonder though, how had they missed what she thought of Stark?  She could not remember ever having gone to great lengths to hide what she thought of the man, but maybe she was better at hiding those thoughts than she thought.  It was easier to hide what she was thinking, her being the only one with mind reading capabilities.

 

She didn’t fancy finding out what would find out what would happen if they got out, what they would do to her.  It was likely that the sudden and discomfiting loss of her powers was weakening her hold on the other Avengers.  It still surprised her that she was able to influence Clint so effectively from afar, but maybe it was because the man held her in such high regard.

 

She wondered to herself if it was possible that those feelings could make herself feeling so awkward and weirded out?  In any case, it still served her quite well that the man held some fondness.  She might not have spent enough time around that stupid Scott Lang to influence him, that had worried her, she could admit.  She would occasionally thank her lucky stars that he was an idiot who believed those that surrounded him, without any need for her subtle nudges.

 

She had always been so excited to meet the Asset, ever since she found out about the existence of a killing machine that had the potential of striking fear into his enemies.  It was easy enough for her to admit to having once daydreamed that she would one day meet the great Winter Soldier and he would no day fall in love with.  It was disappointing to realise that the guy was the killing machine he was touted to be, just a confused POW.  Unfortunately, when she realised the kind of lengths that Rogers was happy to go to for the man, she realised that maybe there could still be something there.

 

He was too easily led round by the nose on the part of Steve ‘fecking’ Rogers, it could be _so_ disappointing to meet your heroes.  It turns out they could be human.

 

Casting an eye over the glass door to her cell, she realised that she would simply have to bide her time before she escaped from.

 

Vengeance would be hers, at least if she had anything to do with it!  And she would rather like to have Stark’s head to go with it.

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review?

Dacia sighed once again; she wondered if they should begin looking at other factors for possible hideouts of Designation: Black Widow. She couldn’t be sure whether or not the woman would pick a country that didn’t currently hold an extradition treaty with America, or would she try to include whether or not said countries had an extradition treaty with Germany? It wasn’t immediately clear whether or not America would be actively looking for the woman because she couldn’t be sure if the woman had pissed off America too much for them to care about the current whereabouts of the woman. 

Dacia had been genuinely confused when she had heard that Romanova had told the US Congress that they couldn’t possibly arrest her because she was too valuable to them to be free. That had been a bit of an elementary decision for her to make, Dacia hadn’t been able to work out whether or not the woman was that naïve. At the time, Dacia had simply chosen to keep the proceedings in mind; she didn’t feel as if they warranted her full attention, simply because she was sure that she could protect both herself and Jane if it came to it. When she had heard of Romanova’s comments, she wondered if it was possible for the woman to be stuffed full of over-confidence on her own merits to begin to believe that no harm could befall her?

It was worth considering whether or not the woman had become too accustomed to living in the lap of luxury, thanks to her association with Stark. Goodness knows that the woman had never had to answer for the consequences of her actions, it was likely that she didn’t think trivial matters such as consequences mattered to her. She had for too long been able to enter into countries and be gone before she ever had to face a single member of law enforcement. It was possible that the woman had begun to think that silly things such as law and legally binding treaties were beneath her.

Dacia felt as if she could easily muster up some sympathy for the woman; she knew from personal experience that it was difficult to move past childhood trauma, some of the scars that she still bore would take years for her to overcome. That she still wasn’t sure if she would ever be able to move past them. One thing that Dacia frequently found herself grateful for was that she had friends now who she could count upon to tie her back to reality. She wondered if Romanova had a support network like the one that she enjoyed, something told her that the woman had worn so many different masks over her lifetime, that no one truly knew who she was. She wondered if Romanova knew who she was, something told her that she didn’t know.

It was a sad state of affairs that when she considered that for now, it was more important that they should remain focused on what they were supposed to be doing. Shaking her head once again when she tried to focus back on what she was looking for, any clue that she could use to pin down the woman she was chasing. Hearing her blood begin to sing in her ears, as the thrill of a good hunt begins to overtake her. Closing her eyes once again, as she wondered what she should begin to address first, taking in a deep lungful of oxygen, before opening her eyes again and beginning to speak.

“So, listen, guys, I was wondering if the woman would continue to use countries which don’t currently hold an extradition treaty with the United States? Or would she choose to avoid countries which hold an extradition treaty with Germany? It stands to reason that the woman would decide that the US was of a lesser threat to her, after all, it was in Germany that she broke the law. I don’t think that I have ever come across anything that whispers at difficult thinking.” Dacia sighed.

“For now, we have to consider that the woman has enemies everywhere and every single place. There would not be any place that doesn’t want a pound of flesh, no doubt aided by the massive info dump that she unleashed. Once she cut strings with Dr Stark, she had to have known that she would no longer be able to rely on the goodwill of SI being able to protect her. Once she had turned herself away from that sense of security, it would have become difficult for her to rely on the things that she once would have counted upon to have her back.” Jyn reminded the other two.

“See, I thought of that, but it strikes me as slightly suspect that the woman would have had pissed away all of her previous networks. Anyone that she could have counted on to give her safe harbour if she got into trouble. Anyone that she could have relied upon to give her information and tips. She more than likely would have pissed away their support; she might have gotten enough of them killed. Wouldn’t even matter if they were affiliated with a recognised Intelligence agency, anyone who was on the radar of SHIELD, their name would have been leaked.” Cassian warned thinking aloud.

Cassian finished his speech and stared into space as he wondered what had happened to make it the woman think that there was no possible way that she would ever have been put into yet more harm. He wondered if it had struck Romanova yet that she was in this situation purely because of her hubris and ego, he wondered if the woman realised yet how rich it had been of her to blame Dr Stark of the very thing that she was guilty of. It was curious, but he didn’t imagine that the former Avengers were particularly willing to see beyond the end of their nose, not if they could blame all the ills of the world on Stark. 

Allowing herself some time to try and shake some of the doubts that plagued her mind, Dacia decided to speak to her friends, hoping that they at least would be able to point her in the right direction. She knew that she would have to make some headway on this issue before too long, more things were riding on this than Dacia suggested.

“Okay, so try and clear this up for me, are we sure that the woman wouldn’t have tried to find her way back into America. In her mind, from there she at least knows some more of the rules, it’s possible that she might have a reason to run back there.” Dacia cautioned.

“See, I thought that too, but America has a warrant out for her arrest, and at the very least they’ll want to save face. You know make the Germans and their international partners look like at the very least they are taken this topic seriously. It doesn’t look as if the general public in America takes the whole thing seriously. So, what political opportunities would they have to gain if they actively hounded the woman and the rest of them? I don’t think that it is an election year in the States, so they might not have to immediately face the consequences of not wanting to take an even bigger role in actively hounding the woman. Did Secretary Ross, Thaddeus I mean, pull any more strings.” Cassian supplied.

“I have been thinking about that, and so far it doesn’t seem as if Secretary Ross is interested in making any bigger waves than he has too, he still looks as if he is more interested in ensuring that the previous Secretary Elizabeth McCord keeps quiet. He is looking to chase his tail and not get any more egg on his face, not while it looks as if he could be gearing up to face a semi-public war of words against the woman. While Ross would be more comfortable with the Armed Services, he doesn’t seem the type to be more comfortable with diplomacy. For now, he would find himself having to learn a new skill – the skill of diplomacy and fighting issues with his words rather than a gun.” Jyn told them with a small frown on her face.

“That is a difficult skill to learn, not impossible but difficult. But back to the matter at hand, we need to make sure that we can find this woman. Is it possible that she would go looking for refuge in some country in South America?” Cassian nodded his head acquiescing to Jyn’s words.

“I have been looking into that, for now though; it’s more important that we should find the woman. It would track with her history; we know that she doesn’t seem to choose any completely new alias. From Natalia Romanova to Natasha Romanoff, to Natalie Rushman, she always chooses the same two initials. Is it possible that we are chasing our tails here on this whole matter?” Dacia checked.

“It would align with some of the histories we know of the Red Room, that they tend to look to history for something, anything to guide them. We know that some of the Nazis who survived the Second World War managed to escape punishment by using what was known as the Ratlines that ran through Spain. These so-called Ratlines funnelled Nazis towards havens in Latin America, including; Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Bolivia, as well as Switzerland. Other destination included places like Australia, Canada and the Middle East. While the first went to Spain, the second went to Rome to Genoa and then on. Would it even be possible that she could be using one of those ratlines to get herself away from danger?” Jyn told the other two, frowning as she scanned through the information in front of her.

“Her arrogance wouldn’t allow that. For one thing, she would be assured that only she could protect herself, she wouldn’t want to allow anyone else a chance. At the very least, it would be slightly more difficult to escape from Europe when it was working in conjunction with one another. She would regard the action of saving her skin as being more important, as being more important than being doubly important. She would be working on her own; she wouldn’t trust anyone else enough to rely upon them.” Cassian warned the other two, not wanting them to get excited over as far as he could see it – nothing.

“I hear what you are saying, I do, but we need to keep an eye out for the woman. While all of this talk is interesting, it’s not immediately pertinent to what we are working on. Oh hang on, I’m getting something through on the woman from the kind folks over at MI6.” Dacia whirled around when her computer beeped.

Tapping through a few of the buttons on the computer in front of her, wanting to make sure that she had all of the facts that she needed before speaking. Her eyebrows raised further up her face as she scanned the information further, she couldn’t believe what she was reading.

“It looks as if all that talking that we have just done has been negated by some of the things that I have just seen. It seems as if the woman has ignored some of her better demons and has decided to seek shelter in the Republic of Ireland. Understand though that this isn’t for definite, at the moment we cannot take this as a fact, for the moment it is a suspicion. But to get to my point, it’s a suspicion that they were able to uncover when one of their agents were in Ireland. The email isn’t clear on what grounds the agents were in the country, but I honestly wouldn’t expect them to be completely open and upfront about their reasons for war.” Dacia made sure to inform the people that she was travelling with.

“Okay, but that doesn’t make any sense, why would the woman choose to seek shelter in the Republic of Ireland, wouldn’t they hold extradition treaties with Germany?” Cassian exclaimed confused with the potential actions of the woman.

“Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense, but for now we just have to make sure that we can hunt down the woman.” Jyn sighed, sinking back into a seat behind her, carefully running a hand through her hair in agitation.

“We can’t concern ourselves with that, not while we still have to keep an eye on actually finding the woman. For now, though, we to keep working all the angles, have we got any further intel on where she might be found?” Cassian reminded the two.

“Yeah, the whispers that they were able to give us don’t give us a precise location, which I honestly wouldn’t expect them to have. One thing that they were able to tell us was that some of our thinking might have been true. Namely that she would try to find somewhere she could enjoy the ability to escape the country as needed, somewhere without a prevalence of surveillance, she wouldn’t want to run the risk of being found through her hubris. I can have a look at finding out whether or not the woman might be located.” Dacia told them.

Frowning to herself as she tapped some of the computer keys in front of her, Dacia brought up figures, looking for any potential place for a hide. Chewing on her bottom lip while she tried to quietly scan through more things than she had ever had reason to before. Making a conscious decision, Dacia took the quick decision to look into some of the local histories; she didn’t want ever to lose sight of what she was doing. Utilising some of the hard-fought lessons that she had learned through her training and early upbringing at the Jedi Temple, Yoda had always told her how important it was that she should keep an eye on the local history of the islands and planets that she landed on. Even if it was simply to make sure that she understood the local customs and didn’t get herself into further difficulties. It was more important that she flew under the radar wherever possible than to make a big noise and show.

“Yeah, do that, for now, we need to understand what exactly is happening. Should we do some more skulking around on the ground, at the very least we might be able to find something or anything that might point us towards the woman that we seek.” Cassian told the woman, thinking through all that they would need to do.

“For now, though, we need to find the bitch, and we can’t waste too much time going on a wild goose chase, chasing after shadows and ghosts.” Jyn sighed, wanting the other two to know exactly what they were potentially facing.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly sharpened as both Cassian and Jyn cocked their heads to the sides, as they considered some of the information that Dacia had told them. Frowning as he looked at the maps in front of him, he couldn’t understand what exactly was going through the woman’s head. He wasn’t sure how he could explain the woman would decide to go against what he imagined would be a bit of guaranteed safety and security. 

Looking through the maps he had pulled up, Cassian tried to work out what were the most likely spots for the woman. He tried to work out if it was more likely that the woman would factor into her decision-making process that there was an airport or something similar near to her in a break glass in case of emergency type situation. Swallowing as he tried to think through some of the most apparent problems, he frowned thinking and crossing out some of the places that he thought Romanova would not go near. He wondered if it was a small piece of arrogance mixed with paranoia that forced the woman to choose locations, he felt like had to confess that he did not completely understand some of the woman’s reasoning. The only thing that e felt he could be reasonably certain of was that the woman had some amount of reasoning and her brand of logic guiding her every move. Cassian felt that he could comfortably rule out the woman making important decisions by simply throwing a knife or dart at a large world map.

Given what he knew about this Universe and what he could deduce about the habits of the inhabitants of this portion of the Universe, was that he couldn’t simply discount the reliance on random. He had never been so confused to meet people that effectively allowed the drop of a hat to determine important decisions that he honestly felt deserved more attention.

“Okay, so I’ve been able to work around some of the things that the woman might use to factor in her living space. She would want to avoid prevalence of CCTV, right? She wouldn’t want to get picked up simply because she had made a simple mistake and not inspected all of the angles before she made a move. She would want to be near a major airport, or at least one that she could blend in, where no one would look twice at her. Unfortunately, this criteria would cross out regional and smaller airports, so more likely Dublin than Belfast. She would be able to rely on a greater amount of international flights; no one would look twice at her if they didn’t recognise her, because it is a capital city. If she felt that she couldn’t run the risk of an airport, security factors and such, she would be close to the Dublin Port, where she could hop on a boat to either the UK or mainland Europe.” Cassian started, frowning at the screen.

“That still doesn’t factor in whether or not she would want to avoid any cameras that might spot her. She would also want to be able to blend in and not have anyone notice her. Is there any way that she could live far enough from central Dublin, while still being close enough to keep her ears to the metaphorical ground? I feel like that would be more important to her.” Jyn theorised, telling the two what she thought, without feeling like she had to add anything particularly astounding to the conversation.

“We can work around that, certainly until we can find if the woman is there. Jyn do you have any contacts in Ireland who might be able to tell us where the woman went. On the ground information, no matter how much I might hate that phrase is too important for us to wave away simply. Especially if we are only waving it away because we feel like we know best, I don’t want this to become side-tracked by our egos; we don’t need that distraction right now.” Dacia cautioned.

“I’ll see if I can reach out to anyone, there might be someone that we can lean on.” Jyn nodded thoughtfully before bending over her computer and tapping with increased frenzy.

Cassian looked over at a quiet Dacia and frowned when he realised that the woman had been very quick to go back onto the computer, perhaps feeling the need to obtain some answers. He glanced back at the large map on the wall behind him, and frowned to himself, feeling as if his brain had become so frazzled with thoughts that he could not be sure what he was thinking of anymore.

He had learned long ago that he shouldn’t put anything past the inhabitants of this Universe, simply because they preferred to play things according to a set of rules that he had little hope in understanding. There were other things for him to become more worried about, so he hadn’t found the time to give the strange habits much thought. To Cassian, he found that as long as he could be assured of the safety of his friends, then everything else could be dealt with at a later time.

“Do, I don’t think I need to point out why we want this woman found, certainly before she has the opportunity to cause more panic yet.” Cassian told the woman, feeling panicked as if he could now recognise that they had to get through this problem.

Even if they were not constrained by the law and societal niceties (no matter how odd he found them), they still had to play by the arbitrary rules that someone else had set up.

“Very well, I have been struggling to find anyone that works in the Irish Intelligence services, though I was able to find references to a department called the Directorate of Military Intelligence, so far I can’t find anyone who I can talk to. For the moment all we can hope is that we should stumble across something that might help us.” Jyn sighed, looking up briefly from her computer.

Jyn was still tapping at the keys to the computer in front her, attempting to scan through some of the things that were popping up in front of her quickly. Jyn knew that right now, time was of the essence, it wouldn’t do for her to become side-tracked, she felt like she needed to find this information as fast as possible before something else happened to force them to take action. Jyn didn’t particularly want them to be forced to take action before they had considered all of the options laid out in front of them.

“We might be able to find something useful, even if it isn’t immediately apparent that it could help us. What I’m trying to say, if you haven’t already guessed, is that we can't leave any stone unturned.” Dacia encouraged the other two with a small smile.

Cassian and Jyn nodded once, sure that they couldn’t mess up their instructions. Jyn wondered if this was simply Dacia attempting to raise the spirits of them, it had been a long time in coming for the three. Jyn tried to feebly resist the urge to stamp her foot up as her impatience grew. Shaking her head again, Jyn tried not to roll her eyes, as she looked back down at the computer in front of her and continued to try and find any clues about where she should go next.

“In the meantime, I think that it is time for us to maybe land in Ireland, we can begin to get the lay of the land, while Jyn works her magic.” Dacia smiled enigmatically, nodding over at Cassian.

Cassian looked at the woman, before nodding once and swiftly leaving the room behind, it was time for them to begin plotting a different course. Cassian tried not to skip through the corridors, for the first time since they had taken custody of the Avengers that languished in the cells onboard the spaceship. Now that they finally had a reason to do what needed to be done, things started to look up for him.

WHOOSH

 

Whistling a jaunty tune to himself as he slid into his pilot's seat, Cassian took care to enter into the coordinates of Ireland; he glanced out the large window to the front of his seat. He vaguely remembered hearing of an outlaw, who went by the name of Solo, who travelled in the company of a large Wookiee, Cassian would frequently find himself wondering how much he would like to a constant companion. Not that Cassian didn’t feel relieved that he travelled with friends, but he would sometimes like to have someone that didn’t constantly make him want to pull out his hair.

Having inputted the correct co-ordinates while he was still grumbling to himself, Cassian watched through the large window in front of him when a large emerald green stretch of land appeared. Taking a second to hurriedly flick some of the switches and press some of the buttons in front of him, he wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t be accidentally picked up by any overzealous sky-searchers. Cassian also didn’t want to run the risk of being picked up by any form of authority with the necessary firepower to shoot them down. The only reason they had been able to avoid the problem before was that they were not in any location long enough to run the risk of being picked up. Cassian felt as if their being here in this place called Ireland, meant that things were beginning to look up for them. This could be them about to find Romanova and complete their job, something which he wished they had potentially been able to do a long time ago.

Standing back from the dials in front of him, Cassian stood up and made his way through the spaceship to reach the room where he had left his friends. He was wondering what way his next few words would begin to look like. Shaking his head out, as he tried to clear the thoughts, he near-silently made his way through the corridors. At least now it looked as if something was about to happen.

WHOOSH

“Okay, we have landed, do we have any plans on where we can go from here? Is there any plan of attack here?” Cassian asked wanting to know what the next few actions were going to look like.

“For now, it looks like we are going to have to go down there and simply ask enough questions, maybe if we ask the right people, then we might find some answers. For now, though, we need to be sure though that while we are doing that, we don’t end up on somebody’s radar, someone who we will want to avoid. Remember that we don’t want to be forced to answer questions before we are ready for them before we have worked out what we want to say to anything that might trip us up. In the meantime, though Jyn keeps working on what you are doing while we go and try and get a lay of the land.” Dacia directed, looking more than a little frazzled.

Cassian nodded over at the woman, before sparing a glance over at Jyn and seeming to come to some random conclusion, he looked like he was coming to a great idea before following the woman out. Hurrying to catch up with Dacia, Cassian found himself wondering exactly what the woman had in mind. He would always wonder what exactly went through the woman’s head; sometimes he honestly thought that he couldn’t understand the woman that he travelled with.

Noticing to himself that it looked as if Dacia was making her way into the large revolving closet, Dacia would probably want to be looking more like she fit in. Trying to hide a small frown, Cassian was aware of just how uncomfortable the clothes in there could feel. Give him his leather and cotton clothes from time spying and trying to work out what was happening within the Empire and he could be happy. You could keep your jeans and stuff for all he cared!

Dacia heard the man’s footsteps behind her slow down; she smirked knowing that the did not particularly enjoy this part of his work. She was sure that she could make it seem better for the man, but she got a perverse sense of satisfaction and joy when she could torture someone. She knew enough that by this stage, she should be glad that neither Yoda nor Mace were around, she was willing to bet that if they knew what the woman was thinking, they would have words. Dacia felt like sometimes it was a pointless waste of time to constantly talk about your feelings. Sure, sometimes it could be beneficial, but there were a time and place for everything.

Whistling under her breath, Dacia ducked into the closet and rifled through a few of the heaps of clothes. She made a mental note to go in someday and try and sort out the mess, to find any form of outfits that might make it looks as if they were right where they were supposed to be. Bending over, she tugged out a pair of jeans, and lifted some tee-shirts towards them, preparing to perform the sniff check on the clothes. Lifting the clothes up to her nose, she delicately sniffed before nodding to herself in satisfaction. Ducking behind a screen, Dacia hurriedly changed clothes, before leaving the room behind her, with Cassian’s clothes draped over one of her arms. Tossing the clothes at him, Dacia leaned against the wall in the corridor, while she waited for the man to be ready to make his way out.

Smiling at the man, when he came out of the room, Dacia guided the way from the spaceship, not that the man hadn’t simply followed the same route before. Tapping the bit of wall immediately beside the doors leading out of the spaceship, and quietly nodded at one another before they left the room behind them.

WHOOSH

Looking around her as she exited the spaceship, Dacia checked whereabouts they could go. Slowing in place, Dacia reached up to her face to adjust the glasses she wore, looking around her and trying to work out where exactly she should head to next. When Cassian caught up with the woman, he glanced at what she held in her hands before looking over at what the woman held in her hands, nodding once to himself, sure that now he knew where they were next bound for.

“So, I suggest we wander around here. I’m not even going to lie and say I was trying to get an even larger amount of work done. I needed to clear my mind and stretch my legs.” Dacia whispered guiltily.

“No problem, I’m pretty sure that even Jyn would have known that we did not intend to ask any difficult questions. Right now, we can only poke around and hope that we are able to find something, anything. We need to be able to work out the lay of the land for now, rather than actually find the woman. It’s probably more likely that we should accidently stumble across the woman.

WHOOSH

Steve was slumped over in his cell, wondering what time it was. He had gotten himself into this mess, and now he would only have his regrets to keep him company. Looking over at the cells of his friends, he wondered how long it would take for them to realise that they couldn’t trust him any longer. Thinking glumly to himself, he wondered when it had all changed for him when everything had simply gone tits up for him. Why had he thought that it would be a great idea for him to tie his star to Stark? Maybe if he hadn’t chosen to do that, then this whole mess could have been avoided.

Steve felt as if they had become soft, unwilling to make the hard choices when they still lived with Stark; it had seemed like at times it was purely up to him to make the difficult decisions. He should have tried harder, at an earlier point to try and separate them from the man’s invasive cult of personality. He should have listened to Wanda when she told him that the guy could not be trusted. It would have no doubt saved him a lot of time (and injuries) if he had simply pulled the ripcord and walked away from Stark at an earlier point.

Stark hadn’t provided them with any assistance during the Fall of SHIELD, why should he, Steve trust the guy when he had already proved that he couldn’t be trusted. Steve ignored the voice in the back of his head which he hadn’t reached out to Stark at that point. He had always found easy to ignore the voice in the back of his head that told him he had been in the wrong, anything that did not immediately line up with his priorities, he could swiftly ignore. 

Some of the things that he would confess to wondering about was whether or not Wanda had gotten into his head. There were some times when he wondered whether or not some of the thoughts in his head were on his own. He was starting to realise that some of the thoughts he had entertained, weren’t his own. Certainly, he hadn’t had some of those thoughts in a while, could he really on those thoughts being entirely his own? He wondered what it told him when he didn’t feel something in the back of his head whispering to him not to trust Stark. He no longer had a voice telling him to kill the man for his actions. ULTRON should never have happened; Stark should have trusted him enough to tell him what he was experimenting with.

Again Steve was able to tell himself that he would not have likely understood what the man was talking about, even if he had chosen to speak about some of what he was working with. If Steve wasn’t able to hold onto his rage towards the man? How else was he supposed to work through some of what he was feeling? There were some things that he needed to work through before he even confronted some of his actions against Stark. He felt like he needed to understand what had pushed to demonise Stark to the extent that he had before he could sort through some of the mess that this whole mess had started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking forward to watching Eurovision tomorrow night


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a dress rehearsal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAH, I just noticed I'm uploading Chapter Eighteen on the Eighteenth of May.

Dacia laughed as she made her way into the spaceship, she was walking alongside Cassian as they made their way back into the spaceship they called home.  Sighing a contented sigh to herself, as the two of them made their way through the silver coloured corridors, smiling to one another, thinking back on some of the things they had managed to find out.  The things they found out didn’t look as if they were going to be helpful, at least not in a traditional sense, but they had managed to blow off some steam.  They both thought that it was more important to them that they were able to go into the coming days with a clear head.

 

Humming to themselves, as they hopped and skipped through the corridors together, ready to tell them about all they hadn’t managed to learn.  Looking over at one another, they sighed before they entered into the central computer nodule, they would have to talk to Jyn and see if she had managed to find out anything they could use to find the woman they were after. 

 

“So, Jyn, did you manage to find anything we can use when we are trying to apprehend the woman we are chasing?  We only managed to clear our heads a little, sorry about that, but what did you do while we were out?” Dacia asked the woman gently, laughing a little in embarrassment.

 

“Okay, we work around this as much as possible.  Was there anything else that you were able to find while we were out, I think that there has to be something we can do to further our goals?  We might be able to work around what this woman is doing, to the extent so that we can find.” Dacia muttered, tracing her eyes over the computer screens in front of her.

 

“We should be able to find this woman, so I did a little digging around, looking for anything that we could use when we attempted to find the woman.  So, I have been looking through some of the general geographies of the country; I think we can agree that the woman is definitely in the country.  At the moment I have set up a program that will hopefully be able to trawl through some of the cameras from various ATMs.  While I haven’t so far been able to find her, I’m hopeful that the woman might forget herself and come up for oxygen when she runs out of cash.  It may just be a wing and a prayer, but for now, it’s all we have.” Jyn sighed, tapping through a few more of the buttons.

 

“At the moment, that’s all we have, but I thought that we should try something new.  Namely that we need to be able to go into this situation with a clear head until we see a new angle there might be something that we can find to help us,” Cassian started, frowning “can you leave the computer to work through this, while we have an early night?”

 

“Yeah, I feel like I’m just going around in circles.  There’s nothing more frustrating than the feeling of going round in circles while we try to find anything to use.  Is there anything that you have in mind for us to do now?” Jyn sighed, running through a hand through her hair, rapidly becoming stressed.

 

“For now, while the computers are running these searches, to meditate and maybe get a good night’s rest.  Things will seem brighter in the morning; maybe an answer will miraculously occur to us when we have rested our mind minds.” Dacia told the two before leaving the room behind him.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

The next morning the three woke up, feeling refreshed and as if some of the answers they sought occurred to them after a full night’s sleep.

 

Walking up with a sigh, Jyn suddenly realised that some of what had been eluding her the night before had started to make sense to her as she slept.  At the very least, now she had an idea of the steps she would have to take if she wanted to run down the woman they were still searching for.  A calm sense of resolves filled her body, as she made her way to the central computer nodule, ready for another day’s work.  Sighing to herself when she realised that even if she now had access to some of the things that had previously been eluding her, she still needed to stock up on some caffeine, or at least she thought that she should.  She wasn’t one to fall into dependence on caffeine, though she did enjoy the taste of tea, to the extent that she enjoyed being able to take a cup in the morning and expect it to last her all day.  She wasn’t about to push it.

 

Humming to herself as new ideas occurred to her, new pathways that she could take their search.  At this point, Jyn was well aware that she needed to turn over every stone, but thanks to Dacia’s actions the night before, was ready to admit that she needed to approach the problem from a new angle.  A new angle that occurred to her overnight, though if Dacia asked she wasn’t about to make a big deal of it, goodness knows how painful that woman could be when she put her mind to it.

 

Stepping up to the computer Jyn tapped through the buttons in front of her, beginning to refine her search for the woman.  Her fingers quickly became a blur as they ran over the keys in front of her, periodically grumbling under her breath while she tried to narrow down the search.  Suddenly pausing only to smirk when she wondered if it was possible that Romanova knew that there was a proverbial noose closing in around her neck as the group got closer and closer to finding the quarry they sought.

 

Jyn had to wonder if the woman was so filled with her ego that she couldn’t see that she may be running into danger unnecessarily, all because she was too proud to stop and ask for help simply.  If Romanova did stop and ask for help, then Jyn suspected that she might not find a lot of help, having previously burned all of her sources during the fall of SHIELD.  The fact that she may struggle to find help solely due to her hubris was laughable to Jyn; it was interesting to wonder how long it had taken Romanova to realise the amount of trouble she now found herself in and how difficult it was going to be for her to get out of said trouble.

 

Not even noticing when the other two made their way into the room, she was that focused on finding answers that a fire could have broken out beneath her very nose and she probably wouldn’t notice. 

 

“So, what do you have when it comes to this Jyn, I am guessing that you have a good idea, at least based on the sound you are making as you clatter those keys?” Dacia laughed, feeling as if she knew her friend well enough to guess what was going on in her head.

 

“We should be able to find something that we can work with, but I was wondering if we should consider running traces on the woman’s former sources.  If we can reach out to them, some of them might want to get even to her, by any means necessary.  We would not have to tell them a lot, just enough so that they can keep us in mind if they spot her.” Jyn told the two, tapping through the keys in front of her, considering some of the problems that they now faced.

 

“The underground isn’t that big; there is _always_ someone with an axe to grind.” Cassian supplied with a shrug.

 

“That may be true, but for now we can’t rely on how things may have worked back home.  Jyn, have you been able to find anything else that we may be able to lean on?” Dacia asked, quietly warning the man from making sweeping generalisations.

 

Cassian peered intently over at Dacia, staring hard enough that it made the woman begin to shift around in discomfort.  Tapping his middle finger against his bottom lip, his vision beginning to go a little blurry as he thought.  Dacia looked at the man, not completely sure what the man was aiming for, if it was to make her comfortable, then it was working.  Dacia felt as if she had never been stared at quite so hard; she tried to keep herself from searching for an exit point, why was her friend staring at her like she had done something terrible?

 

Shaking her head, as she tried to remind herself that she had not done anything to be worried about, she turned to the side and started to doctor up a large mug of hot chocolate for her friend.  Wrinkling her nose, as she idly wondered what was going through her friends head, and why did it fill her with dread that she didn’t know?  Swallowing down her sigh of frustration when she realised that it didn’t matter how much time she spent with the man, there would always be somethings that were destined to remain a mystery.

 

“Not as such, but I am continuing to dig in and see what pops up, there might very well be a diamond in the shit that we haven’t yet been aware off, at least I don’t want to think all of what I’m doing here to mean precisely nothing!  Permission to keep digging until such a time when I find something?” Jyn jumped into Dacia’s relief.

 

She might love her friend, but she hated being stared at like she was hiding something like she was hiding the answers to every mystery still left for them to confront.  She didn’t mind being called a coward in this at least, for she could easily admit that she would avoid the man’s disappointment.  In any other situation she would be brave, but in this, she dreaded having the man’s attention fixed solely on her.  Nodding her head in thanks to Jyn, she wondered at what point her life had changed so drastically, but for now, she had other things to worry about.

 

“Yeah, try that, but do you have any ideas on what we could work on today?  I don’t think that I need to point out exactly why we need to immediately get to work on being able to find the woman!” Cassian reminded the other two, not wanting them to lose sight of the problems that faced them.

 

“Hold that thought!  Something has just popped up; I wasn’t expecting that so soon, the woman must have gotten incredibly sloppy if I was able to find her so quickly.” Jyn muttered, tapping the keys at a frantic pace.

 

“What?  What is it?” Dacia asked impatiently, hurrying over to the woman.

 

Cassian looked over at the woman, sensing that some resolve was about to happen to them.  He wondered what exactly had happened to make the Jyn jump; he wondered if this was further proof that Romanova was not as good as she thought.  They had found her relatively easy; it had been too easy to find her, Cassian wondered if it was possible they were being tricked?  Maybe allowed to relax enough, before the rug was pulled out from underneath them?

 

In any case, Cassian couldn’t worry about it as much as he would like, because right now they had other concerns to focus on.  Namely finding the woman, they couldn’t afford to let their guard down enough where they started to ask themselves questions about their self-worth.  They had a job to do; everything else could wait.

 

“I’m almost positive that it’s her, in any case, we should probably think about disembarking and check for the woman.  We don’t want to miss our chance simply because we are too careful and circumspect in our hunt for our quarry.” Jyn remarked, frowning at the screen in front of her.

 

“Very well, we’ll go, but I don’t think I need to stress that you guys need to follow my every instruction.  We need to enter into this, with the possibility of our getting into trouble should be.” Dacia quietly warned the other two.

 

Cassian and Jyn both nodded seriously at each other, knowing that for now, the stakes were as high as they had ever been.  They might not be sure whether or not they would find Romanova, but they both knew how important it was that they should both act like they were on the same page.  Separating from one another again, they wanted to make sure that it was indeed possible for them to continue to fly under the radar.

 

Guiding the two back to the closet for the second time in as many days, Dacia looked over at the other two and nodded briefly, not even feeling a need to elaborate on what she was about to do.  Darting into the room quickly, she grabbed for her clothes along with both Cassian’s and Jyn’s before throwing her outfit on.  Leaning partway out of the door, she tossed the clothes over to her friends before passing them to go and perform her ablutions in the bathroom.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Looking between her friends as they walked from the spaceship, they had discussed the importance of all they were supposed to be doing.  They split up, each sure of their part in the upcoming adventure.  Dacia separated from the other two and made her way through a tall residential building silently; she was making her way to the roof of the building.  Managing to step quietly over the roof, she wasn’t sure whether or not it was possible that the woman might hear her and make her escape before they managed to escape them.  Pressing a button on the side of her jacket, she made sure to let both Cassian and Jyn know that she was now in position.  It was imperative that they all act their parts.

 

Cassian had meanwhile separated from the two and tip-toed through the large slightly neglected looking apartment building and furtively looking around he made sure that no one was coming.  Slipping into the apartment and glancing through the room that he now found himself in, trying not startle himself when he was met with the sight of several people looking back at him.  His mind whirled as he tried to work out exactly how he should try to get himself out of this situation.

 

Trying to work out what exactly he should do with the people staring at him, his mind quickly going through all of the various options open to him.  Just as quickly as he was coming to conclusions about what he should do with these people, he realised that he could not run the risk of trying one solution after another.  Trying to decide to himself what he should do, Cassian briefly closed his eyes, before snapping them open when a solution appeared behind his closed eyelids.  Sliding his hand into his jacket, he reached for the handy little psychic paper that Jyn had whipped up.  Retrieving a black faux leather wallet, he flipped it open, uttering a quiet prayer to himself, hoping that these people would believe whatever appeared on the psychic paper.  If they didn’t, it could make this whole thing go by a little quicker, something that he was hoping didn’t have to happen.

 

Jyn, on the other hand, had prepared for her part, by going into the generic coffee house that stood directly opposite the apartment block that Romanova had chosen to call her own.  Smirking a little when she realised that the woman had made a mistaken decision when she had chosen to take living quarters near a UCD campus.  Jyn was ready to take advantage of the woman’s hubris and use it to her advantage.  Thinking, with some derision, that Romanova wasn’t the only one who could dress the part and blend in no matter where she was.  Walking up to the counter, wearing a shabby overly stressed university student and ordering herself a large cup of tea before making her way back from the counter.

 

Casting a glance throughout the room, with a calculating eye, she chooses to claim for herself one of the tables near the door.  When she was satisfied that anybody walking along outside wouldn’t be able to pick out her features, only being able to see the general shape of the woman.  Delicately perched on the seat behind her, Jyn pulled out a random engineering textbook, she wanted to take blending in seriously and randomly flipped the book open.  Pressing the button on her shirt, to signal to both Dacia and Cassian that she had arrived in the spot when she would be keeping watch from, she prepared herself for a bit of a long wait.  She wasn’t sure of their quarry’s schedule, having only decided to take this location on a bit of a whim.

 

Even if you had pressed her, Jyn wouldn’t be able to explain that she felt like she had a good hunch that for once they were on the right track.  It might not be immediately explicable, but something told Jyn that she was in the right spot.

 

Her decision panned out and struck gold a few hours later when she spied Romanova going into the apartment block, something for which she was glad.  Jyn privately didn’t fancy telling both Dacia and Cassian that she had made a mistake and they were in the completely wrong location.  Standing up from her tea and stretching out her limbs, Jyn left the coffee shop, looking for all the world like she was ready to throw in the towel simply.  Leaving the coffee shop behind her Jyn made sure to keep Romanova in her sights.  Falling back slightly when the woman went into the apartment block, she waited until the woman’s shadow was well into the building, before dashing across the courtyard.

 

Making her way into the lobby of the apartment block, Jyn made sure that her hair falling across her face hid her face, it wouldn’t do for her to be rumbled at this point.  Loitering near the post cubby holes until she heard Romanova’s near-silent footsteps recede upstairs, she then silently ran up the steps.  Bypassing the floor where she knew that Romanova was currently living, she went to the floor above.  Jimmying the lock to the apartment door that was directly above the one she was now sure that hid Romanova, she made her way in.

 

Looking around the small apartment she found herself in, she quickly took off the bookbag, not wanting to have a copy of a heavy textbook banging her hips when she performed her next few acts.  Lifting a semi-clean old sheet that had been folded up on the edge of the sofa, she made her way over to the glass door and slid it open.  On the balcony, Jyn smirked when she was greeted by the sight of an old looking lawn chair.  Not wanting to risk it by putting all her weight through the seat, she moved past it and leaned over the edge of the balcony looking down.

 

Testing how much weight it looked as if the sheet would hold her weight, she carefully tied it around one of the strange columns.  Tossing the sheet down over the balcony, she carefully climbed down, making sure that she wasn’t about to put herself through unnecessary harm.  When Jyn reached the floor of the balcony, she hopped down, hoping that she would be able to find something that she could use to pinpoint where exactly she could go to find the woman.  For all Jyn believed in her hunch, she knew enough to guess that Cassian at least would want definitive proof.

 

For now, though, she shook her head once and tip-toed over to the adjoining wall – it was of crucial importance that the woman maintained her secrecy.  Pressing her ear against the wall, she prepared herself to wait for a long period.

 

At long last, Jyn smiled to herself when she realised that it was indeed Romanova moving around in apartment beside her, she had finally found the woman that they were searching for, this woman wouldn’t be able to evade them for long.  Pressing the button on her lapel, when she heard the woman’s movements begin to settle down, glancing at her wristwatch and making a note of the time.  It was after midnight, had the woman decided to go to sleep?  She couldn’t be sure, but in any case, it was time for her to walk away.

 

Tip-toeing over to the sliding glass door, she looked out at the calm night and wrapped part of the sheet around her wrist, not wanting to take the chance of slipping.  Before Jyn started to make sure that her upper body strength was reasonably strong, she didn’t want to have taken comfort in something that could fail her at any turn.  Carefully sliding the glass door closed, Jyn prepared for the climb and breathing in through her nose she started the climb, not allowing herself to make a noise and give away her position.  Sighing in relief when she reached the upper landing.  Making her way quietly through the door, Jyn crept over to the front door of the apartment, wanting to leave the place.  Making sure that she grabbed her shoulder bag, she left the apartment block behind.

 

Making her way back through the darkened streets of Dublin, Jyn thought to herself that it had been a good move on their part to previously renting out that apartment on Air B&B, now they had a legitimate excuse should anyone question them on why they were in Dublin.  Humming to herself as she rounded the corner to the spaceship, she carefully looked around her, and upon seeing that nobody else was around, she approached with some caution.

 

Making her way into the spaceship, Jyn felt the pangs of hunger make themselves known, she changed direction to the small kitchenette, wanting to make herself a small midnight snack.  When she reached the room, Jyn started whistling to herself as she pulled down a packet of noodles, for now, she wanted to try eating healthily, something that wouldn’t be particularly easy.

 

When she had prepared the food and settled down to eat her food, while she thought through some of the things she now felt were drawing to a conclusion.  Whether or not they were going to reach a satisfying conclusion, she wasn’t sure, but she did feel a need to follow it up.  Munching her way through the noodles, Jyn looked down in surprise when she suddenly hit the bottom of the bowl; she must have eaten without noticing what she was doing again.

 

That would sometimes happen to her; she didn’t feel like it was something to be worried about.  Just something to keep in mind for her going forward.

 

Cleaning up after herself, Jyn made her way back to the central computer nodule and started to type the notes she felt were necessary for them to remember.  After having taken notes for some time, she was disturbed by Cassian and Dacia making their way into the room.  Stretching out her stiff limbs as she tried to think where exactly she should start her explanation.

 

“So, I am one hundred certain that we have found Romanova, but I am still unclear on her movements.  Were you guys able to determine her movements?” Jyn asked with a sigh.

 

“No, but I was able to work out why she felt like she could live in the location that she chooses.  You see the apartment block is used mostly by students at the nearby UCD campus, so she might have chosen the spot in hopes that she might be able to blend in a bit easier there.  If there are university students, no one is going to notice another woman, another good thing about university is that you don’t _HAVE_ to be in your late teens to start.  She could work the whole mature student thing to her advantage.  The best thing is that this building doesn’t seem to belong to the university outright.  It’s more likely that university students prefer to rent the place due to it’s proximity to the campus and the fact that it’s cheap.” Dacia told the two having scanned through a bit of information on the computer in front of her.

 

“Okay, well that sounds good, and all but do we know yet how many apartments are set aside for students?  And how many other people rent?  If we can get a look at that, we might be able to work out what was going through the woman’s head when she decided to short-term rent a place.” Cassian asked.

 

Jyn cocked her head to the side, thinking about what she wanted to do next, and started to tap keys in front of her.

 

“It doesn’t seem as there is any system in place to ensure that the residents of the apartment block are as protected as they should be.  The conditions in some of the apartments in that apartment block, should not be legal, so I’m trying to work out how they felt comfortable enough teasing money out from people.” Jyn frowned looking at the screen.

 

Cassian shot a look over at a quiet Dacia, they both knew how dangerous it could be if Jyn started to see parrels in some of the places she had managed to avoid throughout her long life of trying to avoid detection by those who wished her harm.  Dacia sighed and started to look around her for a distraction, nodding to her herself she made her way over to a computer and pulled up a maps feature.

 

“She is probably hiding among the UCD students, we are most near the Blackrock campus aren’t we?  She must have access to a car; it wouldn’t have to be a fancy car.  Just one that could get her from A to B.  If we knew where that car was, we could place a tracker on the car, if she wanted to get to the airport, she would have three separate routes.  Same with if she wanted to go to either Glasnevin Cemetery or Kilmainham Gaol.  They are fond of their toll roads here.” Dacia remarked lightly.

 

“That makes sense, if she were hiding somewhere, she wouldn’t want to run the risk of being too close to where ever she plans to make her dead drops.  Nothing would make her want to have all her eggs in one basket.  She might have gotten a bit softer thanks to her being able to rely on the backing of Stark, but muscle memory and instinct would make her second-guess some of her actions.  Kilmainham and Glasnevin are famous, aren’t they?  She could be hoping to hide among tourists and the curious; nobody is going to look to close at a tourist.” Cassian reminded the two.

 

“Okay, before we make any other moves, we should look for the car that she is relying on because she wouldn’t want to use a lot of public transport.  There are decent links between those locations and the place where she is living right?” Jyn decided, having told the two what she was thinking off.

 

Cassian and Dacia exchanged a relieved look; it didn’t seem as if the woman was about to fall into the trap of reminiscing about her past.  It was a good thing because neither wanted to have to face the task of having to pull the woman back from the brink of her memories.  Both knew that they had to remain focused on the task at hand, so any chance that they would have to pull the woman’s focus back would take them too long.  They didn’t feel like they had the time to tip-toe around the woman, not when they had so many thoughts going through their head.

 

It might take them some time to begin to feel comfortable and ready for the coming mission, no matter what happened it would have to be time for them to bring their ‘A Game’.

 

“I can go and check whether or not I can find the car; you guys go over the final plan for tomorrow, we need to find a way for us to nail this woman.” Cassian sighed, suddenly backing out of the room, leaving his friends behind.

 

Jyn and Dacia exchanged an awkward look before turning back to the computer and going through some of the plans for the following day.  Dacia pointed at the screen briefly, before turning and looking to her friend, whispering to the woman about something that she could see.  Jyn turned to the woman in some alarm before gesturing with some concern at something she had noticed.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Clint looked at the cells; he could not believe how far he had gotten himself involved in this mess.  Thinking on it further, he realised that he had always known that Stark could be a bit of a bully and full of his self-importance but he felt like he had to wonder, if not for the very first time what had possessed him to get himself into this mess.  He had always been a damn good sniper, at what point did he think that it was a good idea to get himself emotionally attached to someone who days earlier had tried to kill him?

 

Who had emotionally messed with his teammate's minds? 

 

Why did he think it was a good idea for him to die on this hill?

 

There were some things that he couldn’t explain to himself, even in his darkest moments, so he started to look around him trying to work out how he could get out of this mess.  There were some things that he still wondered if he could entirely say came from his mind.

 

Even ten years ago, he would have sneered at the thought that anyone could influence his thoughts.  He had always felt comfortable enough with the notion that his thoughts were his own, but after Loki had screwed around with his minds, he had started to wonder.

 

Some of the thoughts that he had had, he wondered where they came from, simply because he didn’t recognise belonging to him.  Stark had always been a bit more aloof and distant, but he had seemed like the right sort.  Someone that he felt he could count on for a good time in bars, even if he felt as it was walking a dangerous line, because wasn’t there a good case to be made for Stark being an alcoholic?

 

He had incredible eyesight, and he had thought that the two were becoming friends, so he hadn’t been able to understand why the man would lock up Wanda.

 

Why had the man opted to walk that path?

 

At the same time he wondered what made him think that he knew exactly what was going through the man’s head, did he even have any right to wonder what was going through the man’s head.  Stark had his hands in a great many pies, more than even Clint could ever fathom, so why had she had he decided to get himself messed up into a situation that he would easily confess he didn’t understand a lot about.

The Accords weren’t going to affect him; he had tried to wipe his hands of the Avengers back when he left them after Sokovia.

 

That was the way that he wanted it to happen, but as per usual he was pulled back in by something he didn’t understand.  Clint was by means stupid, even Stark and Banner had both admitted that some of the shots that he made were a mathematical genius.  But he was easily led, as was evidenced by his current situation.

 

Normally, he wouldn’t have been so quick to jump into something that he didn’t completely understand.

 

He should have realised that Wanda was _not_ his daughter, no matter how much he might feel like she was.  Clint had constantly tried not to judge others based on what was in their past; goodness knows he understood that there were always skeletons in a person’s past.  But he tried to remind himself that the woman _had_ been in a terrorist organisation and was actively trying to kill him.

 

There were some things that he found difficult to forgive, this would normally be one of those situations, so why had he held onto that guilt?

 

Why had he decided to rebel against the man that he felt a burgeoning friendship for the man?

 

He should have gone on holiday with his kids, they were expecting him and why had he decided to walk away from them?

 

Was it possible that Wanda had been using her stick her fingers in his mind and started to make him think of her as her daughter?  He already had a daughter, one that he loved?  He had two sons, why had he decided to bring the woman over for dinner, why had he decided to bring a terrorist around his family?

 

When he got out of this mess, it would maybe be better if he could separate himself from his former team altogether.  They had brought nothing but trouble, something that he tried to remind himself he didn’t need.

 

Cocking his head to the side he wondered if he had indeed heard Nat’s name, why were they hunting for her?

 

Hadn’t she aligned herself with Stark?

 

Hadn’t she used her brain to make a decision that he still didn’t understand for himself?

 

What was going on?

 

What exactly had he stumbled in without looking?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like the chapter, I'm going to a friends wedding tomorrow, so I have a hundred and one things to do! Anyway, review if you like, reviews and Kudos makes me want to write more


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha is finally taken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me so much trouble, it was difficult to write a fight scene after you've been to a wedding, but I hope it's good because I was so close to crying with frustration when I was writing it! Hope you guys have a good week, be safe in the sun and if you are in Ireland don't forget to vote today! Sadly I live in Northern Ireland so I can't vote

Cassian made his way back onto the spaceship with a sigh; he hadn’t been able to find the woman’s car.  It had a bit of a disappointing night; he had worked himself in a grid pattern, trying to find the car he sought.  It didn’t matter how many twists and turned he took; he couldn’t work out where the woman had decided to hide the car that she used to make her escape.  It would possibly make their upcoming mission a bit more difficult, but Cassian knew that it would no doubt happen, simply because they were determined.  Making his way back into the central computer nodule, he wondered how he was going to break this news to his friends.

 

“So, after looking all night, I couldn’t find the woman’s car, so it doesn’t look as if we can rely on is to find a reliable routine.  We might have to strike without a lot of intel that we can rely upon, sorry about that.” Cassian apologised, with an awkward look.

 

“That is not ideal, but we should still be able to apprehend the woman, right?  If we can get in and get out without a lot of difficulties, we do not need this to become more difficult.  I do not need to point out that the stakes have never been higher, we do not need to slip even further.” Jyn asked worriedly.

 

“No, she is right,  we should be able to work with what we have got, for now.  We should be able to work around finding the woman, because where there’s a will, there’s a way, right?  Where you can find any indication of where we can find the woman, I would feel more comfortable if we could pin down her routine before we try to make a move against the woman.  Especially if she spots us before we are ready.” Dacia sighed, trying to think through some of the potential problems.

 

Jyn nodded and when back to what she was doing, namely sorting through some of the weapons that they would need for their upcoming mission.  Cassian snuck a glance at the woman, wondering if the woman realised that she was going through the motions before they started work.  He had come to know the woman enough by this to recognise that she made herself comfortable by simply going through the motions and relying on muscle memory to perform her tasks.

 

“Alright, it’s time for us to begin.” Dacia quietly warned the trio.

 

As one the trio moved as one, getting ready for the day ahead, they would need to be ready to make a move on the woman.  Dacia took out her lightsaber, feeling as if she could relax slightly if she knew that she had a weapon that she count on, at the end of the day use of a lightsaber had saved her life in the past.  Dacia honestly thought that it would be silly for her to turn away from something that had previously proved she could rely upon.  Cassian lifted out a lightweight blaster gun; he felt like he needed to have the comforting weight at his hip.  Even if Dacia intended this mission to go off without a hitch, Cassian was all too familiar with simpler missions not going exactly to plan.  At this point, the blaster might be nothing more than a deadly insurance plan, but he didn’t want to be caught out, especially if he should need it.  Jyn was sighing and trying to get herself ready for an upcoming day.

 

“Do we need to go back over our plans for the day?  We need to make sure that we work to plan today, it is not worth our getting confused further by some of out further plans.  We know our exact steps, I do not think we need to work this _exactly_ to the plan, there is no room for deviation, not today.” Dacia quietly warmed, not wanting them to miss another step.

 

Jyn and Cassian looked over at one another and shook their heads, both knowing the stakes that they now faced.  For now, though, they both knew how far they might have to go to see out their mission, and both were willing to follow directions to the letter.

 

The three looked over at one another and prepared to leave the spaceship, not sure which condition they would be coming back in, but it was too important for them to falter now, it would do them no good if they forgot what they were aiming for.  It was more important that they should get their woman before anyone else should get into trouble.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

The three separated at the door to the spaceship, without having to look to one another, they had been working together for long enough that their teamwork was flawless.

 

For the most part anyway.

 

Cassian made his way through the apartment block, with nothing but a sigh in his wake, he could be remarkably quiet, much like those creatures he had read about, Hobbits.  Letting himself into the apartment immediately beside the one Romanova had sought shelter in, he smiled seeing that the small group of people from the previous day had decided to clear out.  He didn’t want to have to worry about innocents to get hurt; no one deserved to get hurt because people who should know better had decided to have a playground dustup.

 

He didn’t want to have anyone else on his conscience, not when it came time for him to have to settle his debts with an immortal being.

 

Getting himself a glass of water from the kitchenette, Cassian had felt like his throat was parched.  He wouldn’t be able to think clearly if he was still incredibly thirsty.  Gulping down the water, Cassian put the glass back in the sink, wrinkling his nose at the cleanliness of the apartment.  He did not feel as if he had the time to make sure that the apartment was clean, he tip-toed back over to the adjoining wall and slid down it, prepared to wait.

 

Going through some of the expected moments in his head, Cassian thought about some of the steps he had taken to get to this point.  He wondered if he would change any of the steps if he had ever had reason to, upon reflection he honestly didn’t think he would.  None the less he found it curious to wonder what would change if he went down any different paths.

 

He settled himself down for the long wait, still turning over some the things in his mind as he tried to pass the time, not wanting to mark the passage of time.  If Cassian knew one thing and one thing only, then he knew that he could easily torture himself.  The ghosts in his head demanded that he did not forget them for too long, they could be annoyingly loud when they wished to be.  He pressed the button on his lapel, letting the girls know that he was in place.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia ran up the back stairs; she knew from the small burning sensation at her lapel that Cassian had gotten himself into position.  Slipping through the large green, at least Dacia had thought that at one stage it was green, now it was so faded she couldn’t be sure, fire door.  Sliding a large brick into the fire door, Dacia kicked at the brick once to make sure that it wouldn’t slide away.

 

Nudging at the brick to make sure that it was securely in place, she made her way over to the edge of the roof.  Looking over the edge of the roof, Dacia felt as if she was satisfied that she would not be seen, she slipped off her jacket and heaped in on the concrete ground.

 

Sitting pretzel legged on the concrete roof, Dacia gently closed her eyes as she tried to get in touch with the Force.  She had previously told the other two that it was difficult for her to feel the small lifeforce crashing through her.  She felt like she had to find some way for her to feel some more in touch with her inner side, and tap into some of the power.

 

It had been freaking her out a little, that she was still struggling with one of the things she had left behind.  Now, that she knew that she had a little time to herself to sit in quiet, she could work on trying to find the thing that she had relied upon, but now it had been long enough for her to start to worry.

 

Pulling out a simple stone from the pocket of her jacket, Dacia turned the stone over in her hand, looking down at and wondering.  She had engineered the stone on the spaceship, wanting to find out where exactly the Force had gone.  She did not feel as if some of the things that she had allowed herself to grow accustomed to for so long.  Now she felt like she may as well take this time to try and work through some things.

 

Opening her eyes again, she looked at the small stone in her hand; she had a suspicion that would work.  It was something that she had came across in one of the old books that she still had access to in the library.  She had come across vague references implying that a lodestone could help her get in touch with the Force.  It would be a handy thing for her to chase down, and if it led to anything positive, then she would want to know more.

 

Even if at this stage, she knew that she could be more likely that it would not lead to anything, she was probably grasping at straws.  At this point though, she was ready to try anything.  To her, it was worth it, because she was at that point.  Shaking her head once again while deciding to refocus her attention on what she was doing.  She thought to herself that it might be worth her while to try and think about some of her decisions up to this point.

 

The ghosts in her past might be as loud as they were for Cassian, but she still had some regrets that she wondered what would happen if she could turn back time.  She had been lucky enough to spend the majority of her time working in the libraries and going through old scrolls trying to separate fact from fiction.  She may have been able to go out if she needed to, but she was more comfortable surrounded by esoteric knowledge.

 

It wasn’t very often that Dacia was called to go out back in those days, she preferred to call the shots from afar.  It worked to her advantage because the likes of Darth Vadar didn't recognise her, she was able to slip out from the being’s attention until she managed to seek safe harbour with the Resistance.  It might have taken her a long period before her health was fully recovered.

 

One of the things that others struggled with was that not everybody on the Jedi Council got along.  It was further true among followers of the Jedi religion; not everybody got along with everyone else.  There was a reason that the Jedi could be famed poker players when you got used to shoving down your emotions in front of others, then you could count on being able to clean up nicely at games of fortune.

 

In her time as Darcy, she had cleaned up at games where people tried to read cues on her face.  Cassian would sometimes joke that she had a face like a brick wall or a piece of stained glass that would only show what she wanted it to show.  Dacia felt that accusing her of such behaviour was not particularly helpful, so she would push it away and refrain from dwelling on something she had long since learned how to control.  She had learned so long ago, that she wasn’t entirely sure if she would know what to do if she had to strip away those masks.

 

It was not by accident that young children, mostly below the age of five were chosen to train and study at the Jedi Temple.  Dacia could not remember who her family were, nor where she was from.  She had seen from records where her planet of origin was, she had read books on that place, but she could not claim to remember it for herself.  For all she might want to understand more, it was just letters on a page, it did not necessarily mean anything to her.  She despised the sympathy in Jyn’s eyes when the conversation came around to the origin stories.  She much preferred the understanding that she could sometimes detect in Cassian’s eyes, even if she felt as if she did not understand what there was to understand.

 

Dacia had never been part of the old guard, one of the Jedi that found themselves look frantically for information on how to block in their young Padawan’s minds their origins.  Dacia was now able to see that blocking someone’s memories of their origins in their minds, was akin to encouraging young psychopaths, or at least hindering their empathetic skills.  Dacia had soon earned herself the reputation of being akin to a door mouse, at least not wanting to get herself involved in this mess.  She had always been happier surrounded by books and attempting to tease out some of the secrets to the Universe.

 

Opening her eyes with a  snap when she realised that she was beginning to become philosophical and maudlin while she tried to sort through some of her memories back in her Home Universe.  Pressing the small button on her lapel, to allow the other two to know that she was now in place, Dacia went through the intricacies of their plan.

 

_WHOOSH_

Jyn had made her way into the coffee shop, sniffing in the smell of caffeine, not wanting to risk the very notion that she would not be able to blend in.  Smiling to herself when she realised that now she would have to drink enough coffee but maybe she would be able to drink some tea simply.

 

Clutching the cup of tea in her hands, it was a nice blend she had chosen, hopefully, the caffeine that was now flowing through her system, shaking her head out, she sank into the seat.  Flicking through the textbook, while keeping half an eye on the outer part, she didn’t want to miss Romanova walking past outside.

 

Her mind was buzzing through some of the steps that she had taken to get her to this point, right now she only knew that the only possible answer for her was to continue to take one step at a time.  It might not have been a straight road for her, but she wasn’t sure whether or not she would change anything.  The only thing she regretted was that she had been forced to watch as her beloved Mama be gunned down in front of her childhood home.

 

Another thing that had shocked her so much, something which she could not have believed, not in her wildest dreams, because how could her Papa work with the Empire?  It didn’t make sense with some of what she knew and could remember of her Papa, how could he work with someone who had gunned down his wife?  Then to find out that her Papa was seen as the enemy within the Empire, the mind behind the weapon that they feared?

 

She had not known what she should have thought when her Papa had died bleeding out in her arms.  Jyn would still occasionally have nightmares about that time; she had never been able to find satisfying answers to the questions that had plagued her for so long.  She might not be able to count on finding out what had happened to make her father think that working with the Empire was a good thing.  She may never be able to trust that there were things she didn’t know what was going through her Papa’s head all those years ago.

 

For now, though, she would simply have to focus on the task at hand, because all that she knew for definite was that the path that she had followed was the one that she would choose.  It might have led her to greater heartbreak than she was comfortable with, but she had managed to find friends in the shape of Cassian and the mysterious Dacia.

 

Startling herself to attention when she noticed that it looked as there was a brief flash of ginger hair, Jyn shook herself mentally and wondered why it did not look as if the woman had dyed her hair.  In any case, it looked as if the woman had made life a bit easier for Jyn and her friends.  Could it be possible?  Was their luck about to change?

 

Her hand drifted to the button on her lapel, wanting to let her friends know that she was on her way.  Tossing the bag with the textbook into some of the bushes that marked the path to the spaceship, she crept behind the woman quietly.  Making sure to keep her steps quiet, she had been listening to Cassian’s lessons; now it was time for her to put them to good use.

 

Watching the woman from a distance, Jyn made sure to carefully after the woman, keeping to the shadows.  After a suitable amount of time, when her nerves were beginning to build up in her, she watched as the woman ducked through the doorway to the apartment block.  Now was her time to shine.

 

Following after the room and remembering to pausing as she waited for Romanova to leave the lobby, pretending to peer intently at the post cubby holes, until she was sure that the woman had disappeared upstairs.  Following after the woman carefully, Jyn walked past the stairs where she knew that Romanova has climbed too and made her way to the floor above.  Opening the door and thanking her lucky stars that she had thought to take place out on Air B&B, the absolute last thing she wanted was to be disturbed.

 

Making her way across the apartment silently, Jyn made sure that her footsteps were kept as quiet as she could.  Glancing through the sliding glass door, Jyn smirked to herself when she noticed that the sun had gone down.  Not even bothering to flick on the light, Jyn made her way over to the sofa that had carefully folded over the sofa the night before.  Carefully tying the sheet around her waist, Jyn opened up the glass and tip-toed outside.  Leaning over the edge of the balcony, she took a step back and took in a deep lungful of oxygen before carefully tying the sheet to a seat.  She then started to carefully make her way down, even though the sheet started to flutter in the wind.  Cursing softly to herself, why hadn’t they checked the weather for that night?

 

Finally making it down onto the balcony below, Jyn peered around her in alarm, before glancing back up above her, not wanting to risk whistling and being heard by the woman that they were trying to hunt down.  Pressing the button on her lapel, to let the other two know that she had managed to get into position, she disappeared into the darkened apartment.  Making her way quietly into the apartment, Jyn snatched an empty water glass that had been conveniently sitting out.  Making sure that she quietened her movements over to the wall, she began to listen in, not wanting to miss anything if she was asked later.

 

In the meantime, Dacia had rappelled down to the apartment that Cassian had found himself hiding in, and nodded to the man before swapping positions.  After they had spent some time discussing their roles, Cassian had declared that he did not feel he could be comfortable with sneaking into a sleeping woman’s bedroom.  Who knew that the guy still hid a core of basic decency at his heart?  Though maybe Dacia had been in this Universe for too long, she still missed the days when she could count on basic liberties such as basic decency and courtesy.

 

Looking over as Cassian made his way from the room, Dacia gently pressed the button at her lapel.  Two apartments over Jyn smirked and thought that now it looked as if the games were about to begin.  Straightening herself up, she made her way out onto the balcony outside, ready to meet Dacia and go into battle together.

 

Smirking at one another from across the balcony, the two women nodded at each other and as one made the climb to meet each other.  When they were both standing on the same one, they turned towards the sliding glass door and glanced at one another from the corner of their eyes.  Jyn quietly gulped and moved towards the door and wincing to herself pulled the door open just enough to make sure the two women could creep through.  Sending a quiet prayer to whatever Gods were listening to she thanked her lucky stars that the door was kept oiled, she didn’t need a squeaky door at this point.  They want the woman to startle herself into movement before they had a chance to get into place.

 

Looking at each other in warning, they both waited until their eyes had adjusted to the gloom that surrounded the apartment, before creeping together as one, ready to confront the woman that they had been chasing for so long.  Resting her hand on the door and glancing behind her at Jyn, Dacia opened the door.  As one the two women made their way into the small room, where they were confronted with the woman.  Wrinkling her nose as she noticed that it looked as if there were strange marks on the headboard.

 

Her eyes briefly looked cloudy as she scanned through the file that she had earlier perused of Romanova.  There was a 50-50 percent chance that it was either sexual or some leftover trauma from earlier in her life.  Dacia wasn’t about to judge the woman; she knew that everyone had their secrets, it would make it slightly more difficult if the woman had not already cuffed herself.

 

Taking in the sight of the woman laying with one hand curled under the pillow, was that a gun or dagger?  Shaking her head once again, the two women got themselves into position and nodded at each other, before clearing their throat.  Watching in amusement as the woman startled, ready to start moving, Jyn leaned forward and tried to grab the woman’s right wrist.

 

Dacia made a quick grasp to try and take the woman before anyone could get hurt.  She didn’t want to become the type to run in blind without considering all options, after all, she was well aware that this next fight could become long and drawn out.  Shrugging to herself as she tried to remind herself that this was a fight they would have to finish quickly, there was no time to play with their food.  If Dacia wanted to have any chance of limiting the damage to the surrounding area, then it would be better, if they could take the woman in with no muss and certainly no fuss.  Dacia did not feel like having to deal with surrounding property damage, at a point, it just seemed like a pointless waste of time on everyone’s part.  She may not be completely familiar with the local government, but Dacia knew that she did not feel up to fighting with something and struggling to make herself understood.

 

Looking over at a quiet Jyn and trying to communicate that through her eyes that they needed this next part to run as quietly as possible, Dacia held eye contact with the woman for an uncomfortable amount of time.  When she felt satisfied that Jyn had gotten the message, she quietly held a closed fist in the air.  Counting down backwards, she prepared for the two to enter into battle.  _Five.  Four.  Three.  Two.  One_.  When Dacia hit the magic number, the two launched into movement, having practised these movements a hundred time over the course of their friends.  Jyn ripped back the large duvet from the woman, and Dacia moved to grab the woman’s wrist.

 

It was such an odd choice, for the woman to sleep under a heavy duvet, but then Dacia tried to remind herself that it was cold outside, it would only stand to reason that the woman would make a choice where she could feel a bit warmer.  Dacia had been to Hoth, she was born there, and she was firm of the opinion that it did not matter where you were from, being cold was rarely a pleasant sensation!  Biting back a curse when she saw that it looked as if the woman was still completely dressed, had she been anticipating them making this move?  Was it possible that they had been rumbled?  Dacia was aware that now it looked as if the whole mess was about to get slightly more difficult, something which needless to say, they didn’t need.

 

Jyn was able to grab the woman’s ankles, thoughts of making it more difficult for the woman to escape no doubt going through her head.  It would take them a greater amount of effort if they weren’t able to subdue the woman quickly.  With a savage shriek of rage, Romanova was able to roll herself out of bed, before aiming a solid kick at Jyn’s unprotected midriff, Jyn dived out of the way to evade the kick.  She came down so hard after doing all she could to evade the kick that she crashed into a large metallic wardrobe.

 

Dacia ran a quick eye over the woman, before throwing her body behind Romanova who was trying to make her escape from the bedroom by wrenching open the bedroom door.  Growling as she gave chase after the woman, Dacia ran out after her, diving behind a cushion, not wanting to catch a large kitchen knife with her face.  While she ducked behind the cushion, she briefly thought to herself that she was glad that at least the woman could not reach her guns.  Dacia knew that if Romanova was able to reach for her guns right now, then this whole thing could become a lot more difficult, a lot quicker.

 

When she heard a shout of rage, she took it to mean that the woman had abruptly run out of the knives she was currently tossing at a cowering Dacia.  Dacia poked her head over the edge of the large cushion, gasping in alarm when she saw the woman looking like she was beginning to spin on her heels, looking for any weapon.  Unfolding her long body, Dacia jumped out and after her hand fluttered over the assorted knick-nacks sat near her on an end table.  Frowning to herself, but putting it out of her mind that it was another odd choice, Dacia chucked a heavy TV remote at the other woman.  Romanova managed to avoid the heavy remote sailing towards her head and wrapped her hand around the door handle.

 

This would not do, it would do them no good if Romanova were able to escape from them. Still, Dacia smirked when she heard Jyn coming out of the bedroom behind her.  Glancing over her shoulder, she hoped that Jyn would be okay, judging by the amount of head shaking, Dacia wondered if it was possible that the woman had taken an even bigger knock to her head that Dacia had originally thought.  She was able to take in some of Jyn’s features and hissed when she saw the woman had a small cut above one of her eyes that was lazily bleeding.  There was not enough time for her to show her concern though.

 

At least, not at the moment, not when Romanova managed to wrench open the door handle.  Hiding a smirk when she realised that now it looked like Cassian was up, Dacia hoped that it was possible that Romanova had not managed to distil the fact that another man was laying out there in wait.  Feeling her legs shake underneath her, Dacia wondered if it was possible that she should have missed the woman managing to get in a heavy kick to her legs.  It seemed her centre of balance had shifted underneath her, Dacia made a mental note to herself that she would have to be careful she didn’t stumble even further and hurt herself more than she already was.

 

Cassian folded himself further back into the shadows at his back when the door started to open.  Balling a fist, he prepared to sink into Romanova; the woman would no doubt be shocked if she hadn’t been able to pick up that she was surrounded.  Launching the fist towards the woman and smirking when he noticed the woman falter in her movements giving Cassian enough time to aim a punishing kick at the woman’s knees that he was hunting.

 

Letting loose not so much a cry of shock, as a sudden whimper when she was suddenly faced with her losing her grip on gravity as her knees began to give out.  With a quick movement, Romanova aimed a heavy punch at the man, no doubt seeing her freedom flash before her eyes.  Grunting as he took a side-step to the left wanting to avoid the impending fist, Cassian looked up just in time to see his friends running through the door.

 

Jyn snarled and reached for the fist that Romanova had launched towards Cassian, wrenching it behind the woman’s back, Jyn reached for the handcuffs that she had hanging from her waist.  With a small grunt coming from Romanova, Jyn smirked when she realised that the woman wasn’t expecting to be caught, especially by new players.  Roughly taking the woman’s arms, Jyn locked them together with a snarl.

 

Cassian took control of the woman; the three had discussed this before, Cassian would no doubt be able to keep control of the woman a bit easier.  Frog-marching the woman in front of them, the trio made their way from the party, looking like the strangest looking quad to ever make their way from the apartment block.  For one thing, the four of them looked as if they had been involved in a war, their clothes were ripped, and much like Jyn, they were sluggishly bleeding from little cuts.  The only one that hadn’t been cut was Cassian; he looked like he was a stressed student preparing to go to the library.

 

Making sure that he still had a firm grip on the woman, Cassian made sure that he didn’t look like they had taken control of the woman, he made his way back to the spaceship.  On their way, Jyn made sure to separate from the group and retrieve the bookbag.  It does not hold a massively high monetary value, given that the ‘textbook’ was on a kind of paper that could fool anyone into thinking that they were looking at something of educational value, but Jyn wasn’t the type to want to litter.  So she picked up after herself, finding the act of her leaving behind rubbish to be distasteful.  She questioned why anyone else should be forced to clean up after her when she had a mission?

 

When she came back, she found both Cassian and Jyn having had a whispered conversation with one another to try and decide where they should leave Romanova.  Jyn knew them both well enough to be able to tell from looking at them what they intended to be done with their precious cargo; they intended on leaving her in an interrogation room.  Jyn realised that the two must want to keep the woman off centre when it came time to question her.  Jyn could see the appeal in this; they may be able to find better and more truthful answers.

 

Or they may find themselves on a wild goose chase trying to extract meaning from a woman that didn’t want to provide any clarity to her actions.

 

_WHOOSH_

Wanda looked around her with a sigh; she still struggled to believe that she was losing her grip over the other Avengers.  She knew that it was only a matter of time before they started getting angry with her, the last place she wanted to be was right in the firing zone just in case she should begin to catch flack.  It had all been remarkably simple to her, from the time when she watched her parents die from that bomb launched by an unrepentant Stark, she had set _all_ of her sights on bringing the monster down.

 

She dealt with becoming more and more concerned with how she was losing control over the other Avengers.  She wished that Rogers would see that she was fully grown woman, she didn’t need the man to hover over her shoulder constantly.

 

She wore a bra for heaven's sake!

 

She had discovered what she liked in the bedroom!

 

The only thing she had not done was vote because she was not about to vote in a corrupt system.  Besides she too busy to waste her time with trivialities such as voting.

 

Wanda acknowledged with a hidden shrug that it was more useful to her that the men (and Romanoff, though it was slightly more difficult for her to pull the wool over the hardened spy’s eyes) still believed that she could do no wrong.  She had to question the rationale of Rogers choosing to believe and welcome someone he had fought with only days before.  It was sad that she had had to sacrifice her brother, but Pietro wasn’t hard enough to make the hard decisions.  She did not regret teaming up with HYDRA, because they had brought her so much closer to making Stark pay.  Even though she missed her brother from time, his sacrifice was very much needed.

 

The fact that she could use the loss of her brother as another weapon which she could use to attack Stark gave her so much comfort.  She claimed to miss her brother, and she did, but the very fact that she could feign inconsolable grief was more helpful to her.  She was able to use the misguided guilt of the others as another weapon that she could stock-pile when it came to her making sure that the Monster that had haunted for so long was spread out.  Wanda had only met that bitch Potts once, she had struggled to make that woman believe anything negative about the man, it was a shame, but at least the bitch was not around as much.  Even before she, Wanda had come onto the scene, the two had broken up, leaving Wanda with fewer things for her to obsess over.

 

She had gotten herself into this mess simply because of how far she had played with the other Avengers.  Pietro had always told her that this was her problem, namely that she did not know where to stop.  Wanda found that she did not care, because at least now she had managed to make Stark pay.  The accursed man was left in a considerable amount of trouble, and all because of her!  It was delicious to her that the man was in this mess because of her.  Even more delicious was the little nugget that she had managed to pick up, namely that the guy was in a tremendous amount of trouble when Rogers was through with him in that Siberian base.

 

Not a lot was happening to her onboard this rather strange prison, but she knew that she could not be certain whether or not she should work to start escaping this place.  All she could be sure of was that it would not go well for her if she managed to escape if the other Avengers managed to get free, her safety might be in danger, she constantly found the thought of what would happen to her?  She could not care less about them; she was as always first and foremost in her mind.  But what if they tried to attack her?  Wanda did not feel as if she could reach her magic; she did not feel comfortable that she was able to defend herself.  If she completely lost her grip on her magic,  then she might freak out, after all, who was she without her magic?

 

Wanda might not have always had access to her magic, she had only found it after undergoing experimentation with HYDRA, but she now felt like she could never be apart from it ever again.  She did not want ever to have to go back to that time in her life when she felt helpless.  Not if she ever had another say in the matter, she frequently found herself feeling overjoyed when she could feel an overabundance of purpose.

 

Moving slowly into a lotus position on the ground, Wanda closed her eyes and tried to project a serene vision.  Wanda was better at projecting masks and acting as if everything was fine with her.  Even if she could feel her emotions swirling in her like maelstrom as she did now.

 

Wanda tried to think her way out of this; the only problem was that she had become too dependent on her magic, though she could not regret that for even a moment.  It was such a trite description for her powers, but Wanda felt comfortable with the description.  Even if she doubted that anything could ever encompass the entirety of her powers.

 

For right now, Wanda would have to take her time and play her cards right, because even though she was losing the benefit of her confidence in her sway over others.  It would seem that for now, the glamour was beginning to come from others eyes.  Wanda crossed her fingers hoping that it would all work out for her, she felt comfortable enough to assume that it would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked the chapter, don't forget to review if you like it. Reviews and Kudos keep me going :D


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gang begin to question Natasha

Cassian made his way back onto the spaceship with a sigh; he hadn’t been able to find the woman’s car.  It had a bit of a disappointing night; he had worked himself in a grid pattern, trying to find the car he sought.  It didn’t matter how many twists and turned he took; he couldn’t work out where the woman had decided to hide the car that she used to make her escape.  It would possibly make their upcoming mission a bit more difficult, but Cassian knew that it would no doubt happen, simply because they were determined.  Making his way back into the central computer nodule, he wondered how he was going to break this news to his friends.

 

“So, after looking all night, I couldn’t find the woman’s car, so it doesn’t look as if we can rely on is to find a reliable routine.  We might have to strike without a lot of intel that we can rely upon, sorry about that.” Cassian apologised, with an awkward look.

 

“That is not ideal, but we should still be able to apprehend the woman, right?  If we can get in and get out without a lot of difficulties, we do not need this to become more difficult.  I do not need to point out that the stakes have never been higher, we do not need to slip even further.” Jyn asked worriedly.

 

“No, she is right,  we should be able to work with what we have got, for now.  We should be able to work around finding the woman, because where there’s a will, there’s a way, right?  Where you can find any indication of where we can find the woman, I would feel more comfortable if we could pin down her routine before we try to make a move against the woman.  Especially if she spots us before we are ready.” Dacia sighed, trying to think through some of the potential problems.

 

Jyn nodded and when back to what she was doing, namely sorting through some of the weapons that they would need for their upcoming mission.  Cassian snuck a glance at the woman, wondering if the woman realised that she was going through the motions before they started work.  He had come to know the woman enough by this to recognise that she made herself comfortable by simply going through the motions and relying on muscle memory to perform her tasks.

 

“Alright, it’s time for us to begin.” Dacia quietly warned the trio.

 

As one the trio moved as one, getting ready for the day ahead, they would need to be ready to make a move on the woman.  Dacia took out her lightsaber, feeling as if she could relax slightly if she knew that she had a weapon that she count on, at the end of the day use of a lightsaber had saved her life in the past.  Dacia honestly thought that it would be silly for her to turn away from something that had previously proved she could rely upon.  Cassian lifted out a lightweight blaster gun; he felt like he needed to have the comforting weight at his hip.  Even if Dacia intended this mission to go off without a hitch, Cassian was all too familiar with simpler missions not going exactly to plan.  At this point, the blaster might be nothing more than a deadly insurance plan, but he didn’t want to be caught out, especially if he should need it.  Jyn was sighing and trying to get herself ready for an upcoming day.

 

“Do we need to go back over our plans for the day?  We need to make sure that we work to plan today, it is not worth our getting confused further by some of out further plans.  We know our exact steps, I do not think we need to work this _exactly_ to the plan, there is no room for deviation, not today.” Dacia quietly warmed, not wanting them to miss another step.

 

Jyn and Cassian looked over at one another and shook their heads, both knowing the stakes that they now faced.  For now, though, they both knew how far they might have to go to see out their mission, and both were willing to follow directions to the letter.

 

The three looked over at one another and prepared to leave the spaceship, not sure which condition they would be coming back in, but it was too important for them to falter now, it would do them no good if they forgot what they were aiming for.  It was more important that they should get their woman before anyone else should get into trouble.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

The three separated at the door to the spaceship, without having to look to one another, they had been working together for long enough that their teamwork was flawless.

 

For the most part anyway.

 

Cassian made his way through the apartment block, with nothing but a sigh in his wake, he could be remarkably quiet, much like those creatures he had read about, Hobbits.  Letting himself into the apartment immediately beside the one Romanova had sought shelter in, he smiled seeing that the small group of people from the previous day had decided to clear out.  He didn’t want to have to worry about innocents to get hurt; no one deserved to get hurt because people who should know better had decided to have a playground dustup.

 

He didn’t want to have anyone else on his conscience, not when it came time for him to have to settle his debts with an immortal being.

 

Getting himself a glass of water from the kitchenette, Cassian had felt like his throat was parched.  He wouldn’t be able to think clearly if he was still incredibly thirsty.  Gulping down the water, Cassian put the glass back in the sink, wrinkling his nose at the cleanliness of the apartment.  He did not feel as if he had the time to make sure that the apartment was clean, he tip-toed back over to the adjoining wall and slid down it, prepared to wait.

 

Going through some of the expected moments in his head, Cassian thought about some of the steps he had taken to get to this point.  He wondered if he would change any of the steps if he had ever had reason to, upon reflection he honestly didn’t think he would.  None the less he found it curious to wonder what would change if he went down any different paths.

 

He settled himself down for the long wait, still turning over some the things in his mind as he tried to pass the time, not wanting to mark the passage of time.  If Cassian knew one thing and one thing only, then he knew that he could easily torture himself.  The ghosts in his head demanded that he did not forget them for too long, they could be annoyingly loud when they wished to be.  He pressed the button on his lapel, letting the girls know that he was in place.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia ran up the back stairs; she knew from the small burning sensation at her lapel that Cassian had gotten himself into position.  Slipping through the large green, at least Dacia had thought that at one stage it was green, now it was so faded she couldn’t be sure, fire door.  Sliding a large brick into the fire door, Dacia kicked at the brick once to make sure that it wouldn’t slide away.

 

Nudging at the brick to make sure that it was securely in place, she made her way over to the edge of the roof.  Looking over the edge of the roof, Dacia felt as if she was satisfied that she would not be seen, she slipped off her jacket and heaped in on the concrete ground.

 

Sitting pretzel legged on the concrete roof, Dacia gently closed her eyes as she tried to get in touch with the Force.  She had previously told the other two that it was difficult for her to feel the small lifeforce crashing through her.  She felt like she had to find some way for her to feel some more in touch with her inner side, and tap into some of the power.

 

It had been freaking her out a little, that she was still struggling with one of the things she had left behind.  Now, that she knew that she had a little time to herself to sit in quiet, she could work on trying to find the thing that she had relied upon, but now it had been long enough for her to start to worry.

 

Pulling out a simple stone from the pocket of her jacket, Dacia turned the stone over in her hand, looking down at and wondering.  She had engineered the stone on the spaceship, wanting to find out where exactly the Force had gone.  She did not feel as if some of the things that she had allowed herself to grow accustomed to for so long.  Now she felt like she may as well take this time to try and work through some things.

 

Opening her eyes again, she looked at the small stone in her hand; she had a suspicion that would work.  It was something that she had came across in one of the old books that she still had access to in the library.  She had come across vague references implying that a lodestone could help her get in touch with the Force.  It would be a handy thing for her to chase down, and if it led to anything positive, then she would want to know more.

 

Even if at this stage, she knew that she could be more likely that it would not lead to anything, she was probably grasping at straws.  At this point though, she was ready to try anything.  To her, it was worth it, because she was at that point.  Shaking her head once again while deciding to refocus her attention on what she was doing.  She thought to herself that it might be worth her while to try and think about some of her decisions up to this point.

 

The ghosts in her past might be as loud as they were for Cassian, but she still had some regrets that she wondered what would happen if she could turn back time.  She had been lucky enough to spend the majority of her time working in the libraries and going through old scrolls trying to separate fact from fiction.  She may have been able to go out if she needed to, but she was more comfortable surrounded by esoteric knowledge.

 

It wasn’t very often that Dacia was called to go out back in those days, she preferred to call the shots from afar.  It worked to her advantage because the likes of Darth Vadar didn't recognise her, she was able to slip out from the being’s attention until she managed to seek safe harbour with the Resistance.  It might have taken her a long period before her health was fully recovered.

 

One of the things that others struggled with was that not everybody on the Jedi Council got along.  It was further true among followers of the Jedi religion; not everybody got along with everyone else.  There was a reason that the Jedi could be famed poker players when you got used to shoving down your emotions in front of others, then you could count on being able to clean up nicely at games of fortune.

 

In her time as Darcy, she had cleaned up at games where people tried to read cues on her face.  Cassian would sometimes joke that she had a face like a brick wall or a piece of stained glass that would only show what she wanted it to show.  Dacia felt that accusing her of such behaviour was not particularly helpful, so she would push it away and refrain from dwelling on something she had long since learned how to control.  She had learned so long ago, that she wasn’t entirely sure if she would know what to do if she had to strip away those masks.

 

It was not by accident that young children, mostly below the age of five were chosen to train and study at the Jedi Temple.  Dacia could not remember who her family were, nor where she was from.  She had seen from records where her planet of origin was, she had read books on that place, but she could not claim to remember it for herself.  For all she might want to understand more, it was just letters on a page, it did not necessarily mean anything to her.  She despised the sympathy in Jyn’s eyes when the conversation came around to the origin stories.  She much preferred the understanding that she could sometimes detect in Cassian’s eyes, even if she felt as if she did not understand what there was to understand.

 

Dacia had never been part of the old guard, one of the Jedi that found themselves look frantically for information on how to block in their young Padawan’s minds their origins.  Dacia was now able to see that blocking someone’s memories of their origins in their minds, was akin to encouraging young psychopaths, or at least hindering their empathetic skills.  Dacia had soon earned herself the reputation of being akin to a door mouse, at least not wanting to get herself involved in this mess.  She had always been happier surrounded by books and attempting to tease out some of the secrets to the Universe.

 

Opening her eyes with a  snap when she realised that she was beginning to become philosophical and maudlin while she tried to sort through some of her memories back in her Home Universe.  Pressing the small button on her lapel, to allow the other two to know that she was now in place, Dacia went through the intricacies of their plan.

 

_WHOOSH_

Jyn had made her way into the coffee shop, sniffing in the smell of caffeine, not wanting to risk the very notion that she would not be able to blend in.  Smiling to herself when she realised that now she would have to drink enough coffee but maybe she would be able to drink some tea simply.

 

Clutching the cup of tea in her hands, it was a nice blend she had chosen, hopefully, the caffeine that was now flowing through her system, shaking her head out, she sank into the seat.  Flicking through the textbook, while keeping half an eye on the outer part, she didn’t want to miss Romanova walking past outside.

 

Her mind was buzzing through some of the steps that she had taken to get her to this point, right now she only knew that the only possible answer for her was to continue to take one step at a time.  It might not have been a straight road for her, but she wasn’t sure whether or not she would change anything.  The only thing she regretted was that she had been forced to watch as her beloved Mama be gunned down in front of her childhood home.

 

Another thing that had shocked her so much, something which she could not have believed, not in her wildest dreams, because how could her Papa work with the Empire?  It didn’t make sense with some of what she knew and could remember of her Papa, how could he work with someone who had gunned down his wife?  Then to find out that her Papa was seen as the enemy within the Empire, the mind behind the weapon that they feared?

 

She had not known what she should have thought when her Papa had died bleeding out in her arms.  Jyn would still occasionally have nightmares about that time; she had never been able to find satisfying answers to the questions that had plagued her for so long.  She might not be able to count on finding out what had happened to make her father think that working with the Empire was a good thing.  She may never be able to trust that there were things she didn’t know what was going through her Papa’s head all those years ago.

 

For now, though, she would simply have to focus on the task at hand, because all that she knew for definite was that the path that she had followed was the one that she would choose.  It might have led her to greater heartbreak than she was comfortable with, but she had managed to find friends in the shape of Cassian and the mysterious Dacia.

 

Startling herself to attention when she noticed that it looked as there was a brief flash of ginger hair, Jyn shook herself mentally and wondered why it did not look as if the woman had dyed her hair.  In any case, it looked as if the woman had made life a bit easier for Jyn and her friends.  Could it be possible?  Was their luck about to change?

 

Her hand drifted to the button on her lapel, wanting to let her friends know that she was on her way.  Tossing the bag with the textbook into some of the bushes that marked the path to the spaceship, she crept behind the woman quietly.  Making sure to keep her steps quiet, she had been listening to Cassian’s lessons; now it was time for her to put them to good use.

 

Watching the woman from a distance, Jyn made sure to carefully after the woman, keeping to the shadows.  After a suitable amount of time, when her nerves were beginning to build up in her, she watched as the woman ducked through the doorway to the apartment block.  Now was her time to shine.

 

Following after the room and remembering to pausing as she waited for Romanova to leave the lobby, pretending to peer intently at the post cubby holes, until she was sure that the woman had disappeared upstairs.  Following after the woman carefully, Jyn walked past the stairs where she knew that Romanova has climbed too and made her way to the floor above.  Opening the door and thanking her lucky stars that she had thought to take place out on Air B&B, the absolute last thing she wanted was to be disturbed.

 

Making her way across the apartment silently, Jyn made sure that her footsteps were kept as quiet as she could.  Glancing through the sliding glass door, Jyn smirked to herself when she noticed that the sun had gone down.  Not even bothering to flick on the light, Jyn made her way over to the sofa that had carefully folded over the sofa the night before.  Carefully tying the sheet around her waist, Jyn opened up the glass and tip-toed outside.  Leaning over the edge of the balcony, she took a step back and took in a deep lungful of oxygen before carefully tying the sheet to a seat.  She then started to carefully make her way down, even though the sheet started to flutter in the wind.  Cursing softly to herself, why hadn’t they checked the weather for that night?

 

Finally making it down onto the balcony below, Jyn peered around her in alarm, before glancing back up above her, not wanting to risk whistling and being heard by the woman that they were trying to hunt down.  Pressing the button on her lapel, to let the other two know that she had managed to get into position, she disappeared into the darkened apartment.  Making her way quietly into the apartment, Jyn snatched an empty water glass that had been conveniently sitting out.  Making sure that she quietened her movements over to the wall, she began to listen in, not wanting to miss anything if she was asked later.

 

In the meantime, Dacia had rappelled down to the apartment that Cassian had found himself hiding in, and nodded to the man before swapping positions.  After they had spent some time discussing their roles, Cassian had declared that he did not feel he could be comfortable with sneaking into a sleeping woman’s bedroom.  Who knew that the guy still hid a core of basic decency at his heart?  Though maybe Dacia had been in this Universe for too long, she still missed the days when she could count on basic liberties such as basic decency and courtesy.

 

Looking over as Cassian made his way from the room, Dacia gently pressed the button at her lapel.  Two apartments over Jyn smirked and thought that now it looked as if the games were about to begin.  Straightening herself up, she made her way out onto the balcony outside, ready to meet Dacia and go into battle together.

 

Smirking at one another from across the balcony, the two women nodded at each other and as one made the climb to meet each other.  When they were both standing on the same one, they turned towards the sliding glass door and glanced at one another from the corner of their eyes.  Jyn quietly gulped and moved towards the door and wincing to herself pulled the door open just enough to make sure the two women could creep through.  Sending a quiet prayer to whatever Gods were listening to she thanked her lucky stars that the door was kept oiled, she didn’t need a squeaky door at this point.  They want the woman to startle herself into movement before they had a chance to get into place.

 

Looking at each other in warning, they both waited until their eyes had adjusted to the gloom that surrounded the apartment, before creeping together as one, ready to confront the woman that they had been chasing for so long.  Resting her hand on the door and glancing behind her at Jyn, Dacia opened the door.  As one the two women made their way into the small room, where they were confronted with the woman.  Wrinkling her nose as she noticed that it looked as if there were strange marks on the headboard.

 

Her eyes briefly looked cloudy as she scanned through the file that she had earlier perused of Romanova.  There was a 50-50 percent chance that it was either sexual or some leftover trauma from earlier in her life.  Dacia wasn’t about to judge the woman; she knew that everyone had their secrets, it would make it slightly more difficult if the woman had not already cuffed herself.

 

Taking in the sight of the woman laying with one hand curled under the pillow, was that a gun or dagger?  Shaking her head once again, the two women got themselves into position and nodded at each other, before clearing their throat.  Watching in amusement as the woman startled, ready to start moving, Jyn leaned forward and tried to grab the woman’s right wrist.

 

Dacia made a quick grasp to try and take the woman before anyone could get hurt.  She didn’t want to become the type to run in blind without considering all options, after all, she was well aware that this next fight could become long and drawn out.  Shrugging to herself as she tried to remind herself that this was a fight they would have to finish quickly, there was no time to play with their food.  If Dacia wanted to have any chance of limiting the damage to the surrounding area, then it would be better, if they could take the woman in with no muss and certainly no fuss.  Dacia did not feel like having to deal with surrounding property damage, at a point, it just seemed like a pointless waste of time on everyone’s part.  She may not be completely familiar with the local government, but Dacia knew that she did not feel up to fighting with something and struggling to make herself understood.

 

Looking over at a quiet Jyn and trying to communicate that through her eyes that they needed this next part to run as quietly as possible, Dacia held eye contact with the woman for an uncomfortable amount of time.  When she felt satisfied that Jyn had gotten the message, she quietly held a closed fist in the air.  Counting down backwards, she prepared for the two to enter into battle.  _Five.  Four.  Three.  Two.  One_.  When Dacia hit the magic number, the two launched into movement, having practised these movements a hundred time over the course of their friends.  Jyn ripped back the large duvet from the woman, and Dacia moved to grab the woman’s wrist.

 

It was such an odd choice, for the woman to sleep under a heavy duvet, but then Dacia tried to remind herself that it was cold outside, it would only stand to reason that the woman would make a choice where she could feel a bit warmer.  Dacia had been to Hoth, she was born there, and she was firm of the opinion that it did not matter where you were from, being cold was rarely a pleasant sensation!  Biting back a curse when she saw that it looked as if the woman was still completely dressed, had she been anticipating them making this move?  Was it possible that they had been rumbled?  Dacia was aware that now it looked as if the whole mess was about to get slightly more difficult, something which needless to say, they didn’t need.

 

Jyn was able to grab the woman’s ankles, thoughts of making it more difficult for the woman to escape no doubt going through her head.  It would take them a greater amount of effort if they weren’t able to subdue the woman quickly.  With a savage shriek of rage, Romanova was able to roll herself out of bed, before aiming a solid kick at Jyn’s unprotected midriff, Jyn dived out of the way to evade the kick.  She came down so hard after doing all she could to evade the kick that she crashed into a large metallic wardrobe.

 

Dacia ran a quick eye over the woman, before throwing her body behind Romanova who was trying to make her escape from the bedroom by wrenching open the bedroom door.  Growling as she gave chase after the woman, Dacia ran out after her, diving behind a cushion, not wanting to catch a large kitchen knife with her face.  While she ducked behind the cushion, she briefly thought to herself that she was glad that at least the woman could not reach her guns.  Dacia knew that if Romanova was able to reach for her guns right now, then this whole thing could become a lot more difficult, a lot quicker.

 

When she heard a shout of rage, she took it to mean that the woman had abruptly run out of the knives she was currently tossing at a cowering Dacia.  Dacia poked her head over the edge of the large cushion, gasping in alarm when she saw the woman looking like she was beginning to spin on her heels, looking for any weapon.  Unfolding her long body, Dacia jumped out and after her hand fluttered over the assorted knick-nacks sat near her on an end table.  Frowning to herself, but putting it out of her mind that it was another odd choice, Dacia chucked a heavy TV remote at the other woman.  Romanova managed to avoid the heavy remote sailing towards her head and wrapped her hand around the door handle.

 

This would not do, it would do them no good if Romanova were able to escape from them. Still, Dacia smirked when she heard Jyn coming out of the bedroom behind her.  Glancing over her shoulder, she hoped that Jyn would be okay, judging by the amount of head shaking, Dacia wondered if it was possible that the woman had taken an even bigger knock to her head that Dacia had originally thought.  She was able to take in some of Jyn’s features and hissed when she saw the woman had a small cut above one of her eyes that was lazily bleeding.  There was not enough time for her to show her concern though.

 

At least, not at the moment, not when Romanova managed to wrench open the door handle.  Hiding a smirk when she realised that now it looked like Cassian was up, Dacia hoped that it was possible that Romanova had not managed to distil the fact that another man was laying out there in wait.  Feeling her legs shake underneath her, Dacia wondered if it was possible that she should have missed the woman managing to get in a heavy kick to her legs.  It seemed her centre of balance had shifted underneath her, Dacia made a mental note to herself that she would have to be careful she didn’t stumble even further and hurt herself more than she already was.

 

Cassian folded himself further back into the shadows at his back when the door started to open.  Balling a fist, he prepared to sink into Romanova; the woman would no doubt be shocked if she hadn’t been able to pick up that she was surrounded.  Launching the fist towards the woman and smirking when he noticed the woman falter in her movements giving Cassian enough time to aim a punishing kick at the woman’s knees that he was hunting.

 

Letting loose not so much a cry of shock, as a sudden whimper when she was suddenly faced with her losing her grip on gravity as her knees began to give out.  With a quick movement, Romanova aimed a heavy punch at the man, no doubt seeing her freedom flash before her eyes.  Grunting as he took a side-step to the left wanting to avoid the impending fist, Cassian looked up just in time to see his friends running through the door.

 

Jyn snarled and reached for the fist that Romanova had launched towards Cassian, wrenching it behind the woman’s back, Jyn reached for the handcuffs that she had hanging from her waist.  With a small grunt coming from Romanova, Jyn smirked when she realised that the woman wasn’t expecting to be caught, especially by new players.  Roughly taking the woman’s arms, Jyn locked them together with a snarl.

 

Cassian took control of the woman; the three had discussed this before, Cassian would no doubt be able to keep control of the woman a bit easier.  Frog-marching the woman in front of them, the trio made their way from the party, looking like the strangest looking quad to ever make their way from the apartment block.  For one thing, the four of them looked as if they had been involved in a war, their clothes were ripped, and much like Jyn, they were sluggishly bleeding from little cuts.  The only one that hadn’t been cut was Cassian; he looked like he was a stressed student preparing to go to the library.

 

Making sure that he still had a firm grip on the woman, Cassian made sure that he didn’t look like they had taken control of the woman, he made his way back to the spaceship.  On their way, Jyn made sure to separate from the group and retrieve the bookbag.  It does not hold a massively high monetary value, given that the ‘textbook’ was on a kind of paper that could fool anyone into thinking that they were looking at something of educational value, but Jyn wasn’t the type to want to litter.  So she picked up after herself, finding the act of her leaving behind rubbish to be distasteful.  She questioned why anyone else should be forced to clean up after her when she had a mission?

 

When she came back, she found both Cassian and Jyn having had a whispered conversation with one another to try and decide where they should leave Romanova.  Jyn knew them both well enough to be able to tell from looking at them what they intended to be done with their precious cargo; they intended on leaving her in an interrogation room.  Jyn realised that the two must want to keep the woman off centre when it came time to question her.  Jyn could see the appeal in this; they may be able to find better and more truthful answers.

 

Or they may find themselves on a wild goose chase trying to extract meaning from a woman that didn’t want to provide any clarity to her actions.

 

_WHOOSH_

Wanda looked around her with a sigh; she still struggled to believe that she was losing her grip over the other Avengers.  She knew that it was only a matter of time before they started getting angry with her, the last place she wanted to be was right in the firing zone just in case she should begin to catch flack.  It had all been remarkably simple to her, from the time when she watched her parents die from that bomb launched by an unrepentant Stark, she had set _all_ of her sights on bringing the monster down.

 

She dealt with becoming more and more concerned with how she was losing control over the other Avengers.  She wished that Rogers would see that she was fully grown woman, she didn’t need the man to hover over her shoulder constantly.

 

She wore a bra for heaven's sake!

 

She had discovered what she liked in the bedroom!

 

The only thing she had not done was vote because she was not about to vote in a corrupt system.  Besides she too busy to waste her time with trivialities such as voting.

 

Wanda acknowledged with a hidden shrug that it was more useful to her that the men (and Romanoff, though it was slightly more difficult for her to pull the wool over the hardened spy’s eyes) still believed that she could do no wrong.  She had to question the rationale of Rogers choosing to believe and welcome someone he had fought with only days before.  It was sad that she had had to sacrifice her brother, but Pietro wasn’t hard enough to make the hard decisions.  She did not regret teaming up with HYDRA, because they had brought her so much closer to making Stark pay.  Even though she missed her brother from time, his sacrifice was very much needed.

 

The fact that she could use the loss of her brother as another weapon which she could use to attack Stark gave her so much comfort.  She claimed to miss her brother, and she did, but the very fact that she could feign inconsolable grief was more helpful to her.  She was able to use the misguided guilt of the others as another weapon that she could stock-pile when it came to her making sure that the Monster that had haunted for so long was spread out.  Wanda had only met that bitch Potts once, she had struggled to make that woman believe anything negative about the man, it was a shame, but at least the bitch was not around as much.  Even before she, Wanda had come onto the scene, the two had broken up, leaving Wanda with fewer things for her to obsess over.

 

She had gotten herself into this mess simply because of how far she had played with the other Avengers.  Pietro had always told her that this was her problem, namely that she did not know where to stop.  Wanda found that she did not care, because at least now she had managed to make Stark pay.  The accursed man was left in a considerable amount of trouble, and all because of her!  It was delicious to her that the man was in this mess because of her.  Even more delicious was the little nugget that she had managed to pick up, namely that the guy was in a tremendous amount of trouble when Rogers was through with him in that Siberian base.

 

Not a lot was happening to her onboard this rather strange prison, but she knew that she could not be certain whether or not she should work to start escaping this place.  All she could be sure of was that it would not go well for her if she managed to escape if the other Avengers managed to get free, her safety might be in danger, she constantly found the thought of what would happen to her?  She could not care less about them; she was as always first and foremost in her mind.  But what if they tried to attack her?  Wanda did not feel as if she could reach her magic; she did not feel comfortable that she was able to defend herself.  If she completely lost her grip on her magic,  then she might freak out, after all, who was she without her magic?

 

Wanda might not have always had access to her magic, she had only found it after undergoing experimentation with HYDRA, but she now felt like she could never be apart from it ever again.  She did not want ever to have to go back to that time in her life when she felt helpless.  Not if she ever had another say in the matter, she frequently found herself feeling overjoyed when she could feel an overabundance of purpose.

 

Moving slowly into a lotus position on the ground, Wanda closed her eyes and tried to project a serene vision.  Wanda was better at projecting masks and acting as if everything was fine with her.  Even if she could feel her emotions swirling in her like maelstrom as she did now.

 

Wanda tried to think her way out of this; the only problem was that she had become too dependent on her magic, though she could not regret that for even a moment.  It was such a trite description for her powers, but Wanda felt comfortable with the description.  Even if she doubted that anything could ever encompass the entirety of her powers.

 

For right now, Wanda would have to take her time and play her cards right, because even though she was losing the benefit of her confidence in her sway over others.  It would seem that for now, the glamour was beginning to come from others eyes.  Wanda crossed her fingers hoping that it would all work out for her, she felt comfortable enough to assume that it would.

 


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end is in sight, the gang find themselves at loose ends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm going on holiday next week, so don't to send me Kudos or reviews if you like the story!

Jyn sighed and leaned back from the computer; she was not sure whether or not they had learned anything.  She could see that most of what Romanova had chosen to tell them had been nothing than obfuscation and attempted hiding from the truth.  Jyn had to wonder whether or not she was likely to get any answers from the woman, to use a crude turn of phrase, the woman had her head to far up either her own or Steve Rogers’ arse to see the wood from the trees.  It was possible that Jyn had gotten some of her terminology mixed up, that still happened, much at it might be able to annoy her friends.

 

Sighing as she pushed back her hair from her face, she wondered to herself what steps they were going to take next.  They had after all done all that they had set out to do; namely, capture the former Avengers.  Shaking the dour thoughts from her head as she wondered whether or not they still had a purpose, it was time for her to contact Ms Potts or Ms Hill, they might have something else they would like done.  She knew that Cassian nursed thoughts in his head of going back home, she agreed with him and had overheard him talking with Dacia about concerning reports.

 

It might have the man a long amount of time, but Cassian had been able to receive reports from back home.  It was only disappointing that they could not send any reports.  At least Jyn reckoned that it was disappointing for the others, she felt as if she no longer had any connection with her home Universe.  After she had watched her Mama, and later her Papa die, she had struggled with any connection.  She often mused that it would not trouble her if they all ripped themselves apart, she felt that she had no stake in this play.

 

Cassian though was more patriotic and longed for home; he wanted to make sure that his home had not been screwed up too much, he longed to enter into a game where he understood all the rules again.  For too long he had failed to understand every player in this new Universe completely, he had poured out books and the internet to try to understand what he was doing.  After a time, he had concluded that it was unlikely he would ever understand, he had fallen back into the mindset of doing as he was told and only living for the next mission.

 

Jyn had worried about him; she had resolved to keep a closer eye on the man’s actions, not wanting to believe that the man could do anything stupid to himself.  She might not suspect that the man was suicidal, but along with Dacia, she suspected that the man was plagued with depression and frustration.  They both kept a close eye on Cassian, or at least when they could spare them.  All too often their attention was diverted to making sure that the Avengers they had locked in their cells were behaving, and in attempting to make sure that they were kept safe.

 

Cassian was a big boy; he could no doubt handle himself, if he ran into trouble, it was interesting though, to wonder whether or not he would remember that he could lean on them.  Jyn wondered from time to time whether or not the man had got it through his thick skull that now he had people he could rely upon, friends that he could count on in a pinch.  She thought that the man now understood that he had people around him, but she sensed that the man would sometimes struggle with running off half-cocked.  All she knew, was that it annoyed Dacia to no end that she had to keep an eye on the man running off to do whatever he wanted to do, damn the consequences.

 

Jyn felt so relieved that they hadn’t had to rein in the man, she had not felt as if she would be equipped with fighting against a man she now considered a friend.  She was curious about what could happen if she pursued those feelings even further, would her friend feel the same for her?  Shaking her head, she decided that it was better if she left the man to his own devices, if there was ever a time for her to consider putting her personal feelings on the back burner, it was now.  She did not want to embarrass herself by forcing her feelings on the man.  Dacia could say all she wanted that she suspected that the man might share those feelings but Jyn felt as if she could not trust those feelings, she did not want to humiliate herself even more.

 

Cursing herself softly, she knew that now was not the time for her to start searching her feelings, not when there were other things for her to be getting on with.  Having compiled a transcript of all that had been said in that interview, there were a few things that she should like to explore even more.  Scanning through the words and grumbling to herself as she wondered why on earth the woman had felt that the need for her to couch every word behind yet more secrets.  Jyn felt certain that there had been something that she had missed, even if for now it eluded her like a trail of smoke on the air, the more that she tried to extract meaning, the more it danced away from her.

 

Frowning at the screen in front of her, she couldn’t see any readily apparent; it would take her some time to work through.  She knew that it would be a long and possibly hard time before she found meaning, but for now, she was going to look.  Becoming rapidly more and more frustrated, she continued to look through some of the transcripts.  It was not before long that both Cassian and Jyn walked, both looking as frustrated as the next.

 

“Jyn did you notice anything further that we may have missed in that interview?  I dare say that you did because we struggled with completely understanding anything that the woman had to say in there.” Dacia spoke, sounding suspiciously formal.

 

Jyn looked over at Cassian, raising a questioning eyebrow at the man.  Looking back at the woman in amusement, Cassian mouthed the word ‘Poldark’.  Jyn smirked and looked down at the page shaking her head, not understanding what Dacia loved so much about that show.  It wasn’t her type of show; she did not particularly enjoy period drama, she liked to turn her brain off when she watched the TV.  Apart from her watching shows like Game of Thrones, which she found much to the bemusement of both Cassian and Dacia.  The two of them pretended to get worried that Jyn was now going to get ideas from the incredibly violent show.

 

Jyn might have forgotten to let them know that sometimes she felt like she was watching the show to find out whether or not Bron got his castle!

 

“No, I couldn’t see anything immediately apparent about the woman’s reactions to you guys.  At least not when I was watching it live, but I was starting to notice that the woman would arch her back slightly when you guys were close to catching her out in a lie.  It was only a minute movement, which might explain why I missed the tell the first time around, but I did have a feeling that it was potentially going to be interesting watching the feeds from the cells after you guys left her back.  She seemed to lose her temper with Designation: (Former) Captain America, at least as much as the woman lost her temper.  I bring it up because Designation: Scarlet Witch seems to have lost any interest in pretending to be innocent and sweetness and light, Designation: Black Widow was very quick to call her on it, Maximoff will not get away her faux innocence.  If anything it was interesting to watch.” Jyn shrugged, after having told her friends what she had spotted during the interview.

 

“That we can work with, did she lose her temper with anyone else back in the cells?  Is Designation: Black Widow even capable of losing her temper, when I reviewed some of the earlier stuff of the woman, I noticed a woman who did not easily lose her temper with anyone?” Cassian asked doubtfully.

 

“Not in the way that you are thinking, the woman is still incredibly stoic at times, but a niggling voice in the back of my head tells me that if we keep on the same path that we are currently looking at, we will find proof that Romanova has feelings!  More importantly, though we will work out how to interpret them because I feel like that information might be helpful to us.” Jyn cautioned the other two, not wanting to build up their hopes unnecessarily.

 

“Okay, so don’t leave us hanging, can you answer the question or not?” Dacia prompted becoming annoyed when the woman did not answer her.

 

“Before I start with telling you guys exactly what happened, especially because her conclusion seems to be coming on too suddenly for comfort.  She did seem to lose her temper with Designation: Ant-Man for going into a situation with Stark with some pre-conceived notions of how the man would likely act.  I misdoubt some of the actions of the woman because, for one thing, she was guilty of the same thing.  For pities sake, she had decided that it was a good thing for her to go into writing a report about the man, with a firm notion in her head of what she was going to find!” Jyn reminded the other two.

 

“Well, that is fair enough, but do we have any thoughts on what the woman might have been thinking.  She could not be seeing that anything has not changed, but it does not sit right with me, you know that right?  Do we think that it might not have been an honest change?” Cassian frowned, looking confused and pensive.

 

“No, I doubt that would be a real decision for the woman, for now, I think she is more interested in appearing as if she was still playing for Dr Stark.  At the very least, she would possibly take the enforced glass plating on each cell; nobody would easily be able to take their tempers out on her.  She might be thinking, (correctly I might add) that anything she says would be reported back to Stark Industries.  It might be a good idea to consider whether or not she is doing this simply so she might garner any goodwill.  We know that for definite we are reporting back, so we should work on the knowledge that the woman might be able to guess at this.” Jyn explained further some of her thinking processes.

 

“Can we rely on the woman though and what her being able to guess correctly could have the potential to make _our_ jobs more difficult.  At the very least we should keep a proper eye on her, just in case she should pick up on something that we do not particularly want the woman to even guess at.” Cassian muttered, judging by the look of him he had not counted on speaking aloud.

 

Both Dacia and Jyn exchanged looks of surprise with one another as what the man was saying was only occurring to them.  It was entirely possible that it had not occurred to them, something that served to make Cassian roll his eyes at his friend naivety.  He had felt more than a little surprised at Jyn; he had long since thought that the woman was not the type to show any form of weakness, he found it oddly comforting that some things would never change.  He did occasionally wish that Jyn and Dacia would realise sooner rather than later that he was known to have the odd good idea.

 

It might be worth their while to listen to him, after all, who knows what they might learn!

 

“That does bear further consideration, but as per usual we cannot simply march on, who knows how many games we could give away if we did that.  We need to think about this intelligently; I do not need to point out what could happen if we should allow time to be stolen from us again?  We do not need to overplay our cards, not when we are so close to the finish line.” Dacia mused with a nod.

 

“Okay, so if we approach this with the idea in mind that she may be attempting to run some con against us, how can we disappoint her?  I do so hate disappointing people though.” Jyn sarcastically muttered.

 

Dacia snorted when she heard Jyn’s words, knowing just by listening to her friend that Jyn was wearing a devilish smirk.  Groaning to herself that this was going to be a long day, especially when one considered that Jyn liked to play with her food before she should eat it.  It was for this reason that neither she nor Cassian liked to allow her to speak to what passed as hunters on this planet.  Jyn still struggled with the idea that for some people they hunted simply because they liked the feeling of adrenaline coursing through their veins.  Jyn could be remarkably assured that the only reasonable way that someone would choose to hunt would be because they needed to eat, she did not feel comfortable with choosing to kill simply because they wanted a cool story.

 

Shaking his head, Cassian decided that maybe he should answer the woman before they got too distracted from what they were trying to do, namely work out their jobs.

 

“We should treat her the same way we do like the rest of the Avengers in the cells.  Namely that we don’t tell them anything, it is far too amusing to watch them scramble while they try to understand why they are in the position they are currently in.  Have any of them realised yet that they might have done anything to indicate that they might understand where they went wrong?” Cassian snorted.

 

“Not yet, at least there hasn’t been any that have been able to say one way or another completely, they seem more interested in feeling sorry for themselves.  Designation: Hawkeye for one seems to be more frustrated with the idea that he left behind his children behind.  Designation: Ant-Man is also conflicted with the same idea.  The only one of them that doesn’t seem to be willing to make a change is Designation: Scarlet Witch, in fact, I am a bit alarmed to report that the woman seems dare I say it but annoyed that Designation: (Former) Captain America failed to take the final step and kill Dr Stark.  She, however, was relieved that she will now be able to take the final steps and kill the man who has caused her so grief.  She doesn’t seem to be the doubt that would move away from her belief that the man is the root of all evil.” K-2SO’s voice told the three calmly.

 

“Well, we could not hope for any change when it comes to _THAT_ woman, she seems the type to cling onto her feelings for far too long.  Past the point of it becoming uncomfortable for everyone involved.” Jyn sighed rapidly becoming frustrated with what she was hearing.

 

“Okay, well that figures, is there anything else that you can tell us about K?  There has got to be something that we can use.” Dacia tried, attempting to get the meeting back on track.

 

“Designation: Falcon had shown some misgivings about his part in the whole thing, he is starting to doubt the actions of Designation: (Former) Captain America at least with regards to his wild march to save Barnes.  He has started to wake up, and he looks like thoughts of wondering what exactly is happening because he can not exactly explain to himself exactly what is happening to him.  I may not be able to hear exactly is going through his mind, at this point, it is all simply conjecture.” K-2SO sounded pissed.

 

Cassian looked amused; he understood that K-2SO did not like being questioned or doubted.  It had been the same way when he was still operating like a robot, Cassian could well remember just how irritating he had become when Jyn had walked into their lives.  Mostly, because, Cassian thought that it was the fact that Jyn had ties to the organisation that K-2SO had come from.  In fact, if Cassian did not know any better, he would assume that it was because he did not like being reminded that at one stage he operated as part of a meaning part in an even large tyrannical organisation.  Though given that he liked to remind anyone that he came into contact with that he was a robot and therefore free of the pesky feelings that plagued humans.

 

Maybe though, it was simply some strange kind of over-protective feelings towards the man he was working with for so long.  Though, that thought served only to frustrate Cassian, because he wondered why anyone had decided that he needed protection from his demons.

 

Man, but feelings could be so confusing at times!

 

“Alright, but for now we need to start working on our next angle.  Do we start working on bringing the criminals back to New York?  Or to the Avengers Compound?” Cassian prevaricated, not completely sure of what their next few steps should be.

 

“I was already planning on compiling an email to Ms Potts; we need to know what we should do next.  I’m interested in knowing where they want the Prisoners kept?” Jyn mused, thinking through some of the things that she would need to include in the email.

 

Especially if she fully intended to find some answers, whether or not she would like to find these answers she was looking for.  Though right now it was more imperative that they should find answers and what they were supposed to do next.  Cracking her hands together as she thought through some of the things she would have to put in an email.  Jyn knew that right now she had to make sure that she did not forget anything, because who knew how important it could be in the long run!

 

“Do that, for now, we need to understand where we should head to next.  Cassian I the spaceship going to be okay for any length of time?” Dacia directed nodding, feelings as if things would become more open and honest if she had a task to complete.

 

“We should still be okay for a small amount of time; I trust the safety of this craft that much at least.  But I am having some troubles that I want to look at before we have to perform any long distance runs.  There are some things that I want to have a look at before we begin to fall into trouble and we start to rely on the spaceship’s ability to go far.”  Cassian sighed running a hand through his hair.

 

Dacia nodded at the man, taking in the information and running through some quick problems in her head.  She thought for a while longer, wondering to herself about whether or not they had a lot of time left to play with.  It could prove to be troubling if they should need to make a quick getaway.  At one stage this might have been Dacia’s spaceship, but she was used to allowing Cassian free reign to look after the spaceship however he wanted.  Some days she felt that it was the only way that they were guaranteed to get any peace.

 

An antsy Cassian was no one's friend.

 

He could be so much of a pain to deal with at times!

 

“I’ll get right on that, if you guys want to go take a shower or anything, writing this email will take me some time.” Jyn sighed, wondering how exactly she was going to format the email.

 

Not even wanting to look up from the computer just in case she should get distracted by what she was about to do.  Though, she did wonder if it was even possible for her to get distracted from something that she had not even had a chance to get started on.  Jyn knew though from personal experience, that when it came to her, it was incredibly easy to get distracted.

 

Humming to herself as she prepared to begin the email, she briefly licked her lips before bending over the computer and beginning to type in her standard fashion.  Namely, slowly, as she pecked at the keys, trying to work out how she could sound polite and not completely fed up.  Shaking her head once again, she began to type quickly.

 

 **TO:** Potts, V., Hill M.

 

 **FROM:** Erso, J.

 

 **CC:** Lewis, D, Andor, C

 

 **ATTACHED:** Transcripts of the final interviews + footage of interviews

 

 

_I should inform you that now that we have the old Avengers that absconded with Designation: (Former) Captain America and more recently Designation: Black Widow.  For now, we need to know where you want us to bring these people._

_We are happy to bring them wherever you want, as long as you can promise to hold onto these people.  We do not want for them to be able to slip free of their bonds, leading us on another wild goose chase._

Sighing when she realised that her email was a little sharper than she had originally intended it to be.  Deciding that she could easily see herself spending all day attempting to write the email, she hit the send button; she knew enough about herself to know that she could easily spend a long time procrastinating over the email she needed to send.  Running a hand through her hair, Jyn wondered if she could ever have foreseen herself taking part in a venture that involved politics, something which she had always tried to avoid.

 

Pressing another button to recall her friends to the room, it was time for them to get back to the business that until now they found too easy to blow off, they needed to make some plans.  Jyn had always found it helpful to have multiple plans in place, just in case something some fall through the cracks.  Cassian might like to tease her that Jyn could be incredibly paranoid, something which she thought was a strange choice for the uber paranoid Cassian to tease _anyone_ about.

 

_WHOOSH_

Cassian rolled his eyes while he waited for Jyn to finish writing the email that he knew had been plaguing the woman.  He wondered why the woman was so worried about the possibility of her meaning and words being tangled up.  Cassian was confident enough to assume that Jyn knew exactly what the stakes could be if she made a mistake now.  He trusted Jyn enough to know that she would not let them down, because she still had too many parts to play, too many balls in the air to willingly let any of them falter.

 

Sighing to himself and wondering what the hell had ever made him think that it was a good idea to fall for one of the women he travelled with, he found himself briefly missing K-2SO.  When that ornery robot had been around it had been hard for him to fall for anyone, K managed to keep anyone and everyone away through his nitpicky ways.  He had been spared ever having to pretend that he held an interest in someone else, simply because K had always managed to get in the way.

 

Was it curious though that K-2SO would choose only to work with Cassian?

 

It was a thought that Cassian sometimes had but frequently tossed aside as he wondered whether or not because only Cassian seemed able to put up with the robot.

 

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Cassian breathed in deeply in relief as he washed his face, having sweat over your face was not a particularly comfortable sensation.  They must have dropped into Ireland during one of the odd days with the exceptionally good weather; he made a mental note to double-check the air-con on the spaceship.  He had listened to the room, and he could not detect any sounds of cold (or warm) air entering the bathroom he was stood in.

 

Briefly touching the wall, and leaving the room when he heard the small beeping sound of the device he had left in his bedroom.  Now it was time for him to go and talk to Jyn, the woman had finished the email, and it was no doubt time for him to find out what their next few moves were going to be.

 

_WHOOSH_

Catching up with Dacia just as the woman entered the room ahead of him, Cassian felt a sickening feeling deep in his belly, was he beginning to feel uncomfortable thoughts again?  Was it his instinct warning him that things were about to change, allowing him time to be on his guard?

 

“Okay, so what do we have?” Cassian impatiently asked.

 

“They want us to bring the prisoners to the upstate compound, from there they have been able to assure me that they can keep the prisoners under control.  Their thinking goes that at least if we are there, it’s less likely that someone will notice, and I’m paraphrasing here a great dirty spaceship popping up.  From there, I figure we will be able to focus on repairing the ship before striking out on our own.  Is there anything else that you want me to keep an eye on?” Jyn calmly replied.

 

“No, for now, that’s good, if we need to move on, then I figure that at least from there we shall be able to.  Ready to go and make a difference Cassian?  I feel as if our part of this tale is ending, we can start to bring up some of the other things on the back burner.” Dacia quietly instructed.

 

Cassian nodded at the two other woman and stepped towards the monitor beside Jyn.  He wanted to make sure that he had the co-ordinates of their destination, the last thing he wanted was to waste time flying around.  He had a feeling that whatever was happening with the spaceship might be more important than he initially suspected.  He didn’t want for them to get caught out, simply because he wasn’t able to carry out a complete fix to repair the problems that they faced.

 

Plugging in a smaller tablet that was more of a similar size to a Samsung Note phone, he made sure to transfer over the details of where he was expected to fly too; he didn’t want to run the risk of him over-shooting the runway.  Idly looking at the screen while he waited for the phone to process the data for him.  He unplugged the device and made his way from the room.

 

_WHOOSH_

Whistling softly to himself as he thought through some of the things that he wanted to do, he slipped into the pilot’s seat.  After having sent a sad look towards the empty co-pilot seat beside as he wondered whether or not it was likely it would ever get filled, he shook his head and ran his hands over some of the buttons in front of him.  Making sure that the computer knew where to take him, he took in a deep breath and pulled the lever towards him.  Looking out of the window as he took in the sight of the stars and other things out there beginning to turn blue as they raced past them at hyper speed.

 

_WHOOSH_

Natasha felt worried about the cells, as she felt the craft begin to move.  She still wasn’t sure exactly where she was, or who these people were.  She did not like feeling this way, because there was nothing worse in her mind than not knowing where she is going or what she was doing.

 

She had thought that in joining SHIELD, she would be moving away from the frequently barbaric and often bloody missions that both the Red Room and later the KGB liked her to work.  It had disappointed her that she had not been able to move away completely from the things which she did not like doing.  She still operated as the knife in the dark, the enemy in the shadows.  For a time she had been pleased to continue to operate in this manner.

 

After all, she was used to it, and it would be a bit rich if she suddenly objected to what she was so good at.  She was able to reconcile herself with the knowledge that it was not always clear what she is doing, but at least she was able to sleep easy knowing that her actions had some kind of purpose, a guiding light for her to follow.

 

It was hard for her, but she had eventually made her peace with not always immediately understanding what she was doing, it was what she was good at after all.  She would take occasionally long for the knowledge that she was doing completely good work, she was not always completely comfortable operating in the shadows.

 

The one she regretted that HYDRA unveiling, was wondering how often she sent out on missions on the word of HYDRA.  She wasn’t like Steve, she wasn’t _completely_ naïve, but it had not taken her a great amount of introspection to conclude that SHIELD was not completely overrun with the enemy organisation.

 

She could not regret having leaked all those files; sometimes she wondered what would happen to her if she were ever arrested and not under the safety of Stark.  She had seen what had happened to the likes of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.  She might not be able to follow in the footsteps of Snowden; she was strong in her assumption that if she returned to Russia, she would not enjoy a pleasant stay.  Even before she had leaked those files, she felt comfortable enough to know that she had burned (and salted) too many bridges in her mother country to ever run the risk of returning.  Unless she had the protection of a large organisation like SHIELD or SI, she would not risk it unless she was otherwise at risk otherwise.

 

She now felt herself wondering exactly what mess she was heading towards now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned above that I'm on holiday next week, I'm hoping to get a lot of reading done, so there might not be a chapter next week, so again don't forget to send Kudos or reviews. My tumblr, if you want to see any photos from my holiday is https://littleroma.tumblr.com/ have a good weekend


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Travelling takes on new meanings, Dacia makes a discovery

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I'm writing this in Galway, as my Mum, Dad, brothers, Aunt and Uncle watch the World Cup. Storm Hector was bad here, but hey if you can't visit Pearse's cottage in the howling wind and rain, when can you go!

Cassian peered out of the window in front of him, wondering what awaited them when they landed.  He hoped that they were not about to get into trouble, mainly because it could be dull when the trio got into difficulty, especially if it was something that they could easily get off.  It was a shame that Dacia held so strongly to her beliefs of never overplaying their hand, things could be dealt with _so_ much easier if they weren’t holding themselves back on a near constant basis.  Even if Dacia explained it as wanting to keep some of their abilities under wraps, after all, there was nothing worse than feeling like you had to play catch up.

 

Frowning when he heard the machine beep a little, he leaned forward ready to press the buttons frantically.  He wasn’t sure what exactly what had happened, so he wanted to check the monitors in front of him.  Cursing to himself when he wondered what kind of trouble they had managed to get themselves into, he wanted to make sure that he could mitigate any form of bother before it came something bigger.  Muttering to himself, as he cast his eyes over the read-outs in front of him, it did not look as if much was going wrong.  Or at least, it did not look as if they were about to find themselves in serious trouble.

 

Becoming irritated when he realised that there was no real need for him to become overly stressed, it looked as if he would next to move up the potential repair work to the spaceship.  Cassian sighed, settling back in his seat when he noted that they were beginning to come into land.  Growling to himself as he connected the phone to the spaceship and ‘downloaded’ a list of the problems to the spaceship.  He would need to look further into these problems, probably because he wanted to make sure that there was not anything more pressing for him to look at because there was always something.

 

When he realised that it was time for him to be getting back to his friends, he glanced down at the small device in front of him and carefully unplugged it, slipping it in his pocket.  Flicking a few of the switches in front of him, making sure that the spaceship was likely to hold steady, he did not want to wander away from the pilot's seat, only for them to get into trouble and he would have to play catch-up and sprint back to the pilot’s seat.  Strolling from the room, he whistled as he made his way through the spaceship, wanting to check with Dacia and Jyn what their next few steps should be.

 

Not wanting to bother hurrying through the corridors, Cassian found himself deep in thought, he was wondering what his next few days were going to be like, were they going to stressful or calm?  He felt himself slipping further into his thoughts as he walked.  The originally silver corridors, he made another mental note to make sure that he cleaned the walls, he preferred to make sure that the walls gleamed.  It might seem like he could be incredibly vain, or as Dacia liked to tease him spaceship proud, but he saw no problem with wanting the thing that you lived on to be completely clean.  Jyn usually just left him to with nothing more than eye roll to show that she did not easily understand why her friend got so uptight about the cleanliness of the spaceship that he called home.  She could understand wanting to make sure that where he lived was clean, even if she still thought that the man took too far.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Entering the small computer nodule, he nodded to his two seated friends.  Watching in amusement as the two woman surged from their seats, poking at buttons and reading monitors, he wondered if he should tell them that there were some things that he was rapidly becoming nervous about.  Jyn, however, took the decision right out of his hands when she began to speak.

 

“That felt a bit bumpier than it should, Cassian is the spaceship in worse condition than we thought?” Jyn nervously asked.

 

“Well it is, and it isn’t.  I knew that we were in trouble, but I am not too concerned _yet,_ it will simply require a larger fix than I thought, nothing more than anything I should be able to handle.  I would be concerned if there was any possibility of us having to flee for our lives.” Cassian denied with a sigh.

 

“Okay, Cassian there will probably be meetings when we get there, would you like Jyn and I to handle them while you fix the spaceship?” Dacia gently asked.

 

“That might be better, I’ve got a feeling that we might run into difficulty sooner rather than later.  At the very least, I will be able to look further into seeing whether or not we can track what is going on at home.” Cassian muttered with a sigh.

 

“Okay, that’s fine, is the spaceship on cruise control now?” Dacia asked, wondering why Cassian had opted to come back to them.

 

“Yes, I wanted to scan further the area they told us to set down in,” Cassian muttered.

 

“You don’t think we could be in trouble here though, right?  Because I’m not ready for a fight.” Jyn sharply asked, knowing that Cassian’s instinct should be trusted.

 

“No, nothing like that, just that once we drop off these prisoners, we have to ask ourselves what our next step should be.” Cassian waved off the woman’s concern.

 

“Alright, well, for now, we are going to have to focus in on looking at whether or not there is a possibility that this is something we need to keep in mind.  I don’t want to slip and fall right before we need to make a sudden move, so Cassian as soon as you can you need to work on making sure that it’s possible for us to get away easy.  I haven’t told you so far, but I have also been getting something telling me that we need to be ready to make a run.  While nothing tells me that we are in immediate danger, I want us to be ready to make a run for it.” Dacia sighed wearily.

 

“Wait, what do you mean?” Jyn frowned.

 

“I mean that there is a feeling in the back of my mind that something is happening back at home, but it’s doing my head in because I know it could be a complete struggle for us to get back.  Is it even possible for us to go home?” Dacia explained with a sigh, still feeling slightly confused.

 

“Not yet, but if I can have some time to look through the systems on board this spaceship, there could be a way for us to get back in touch with some of the people we left behind.  Though, it would be dangerous, so I don’t want to build up your hopes, I didn’t mention it because I wasn’t sure it could work.  But it might take me a month or two to work out all of the kinks.  If we have the time, while we are here, I would like to run a complete deep-systems check.  Is that okay?” Cassian told the two with a frown.

 

“That should be fine; I shudder to think of the messes we could get ourselves into if this spaceship can’t be ready for us to have the ability to run and get us the hell out of dodge if needs are,” Dacia remarked heavily.

 

“Yeah, that should be fine.  I can go over these machines, and if you can spare Jyn at any point, she can hit the books with me, just until I can work out whether or not this knowledge is all theoretical.  If we know whether or not we can trust this vessel if we need to put it through its paces.” Cassian sighed thinking of all he would have to do as he ran a hand through his hair.

 

Dacia nodded thoughtfully, wondering what was likely to come up with the next few days for her to be concerned about.  There was something that had been bothering her ever since she had woken up to those feelings.  She felt like something was climbing up her spine, an awareness that there was something else bothering her.

 

She had not felt anything like this in a long time, but all that she knew was that it involved feelings or instincts that she had not felt reared in a long time.  She only hoped that for not it meant light at the end of the tunnel because she wasn’t particularly enjoying this current mission.  She supposed that now that they had completed all of their objectives, that it was only natural for her to feel ready to move on, she just worried whether or not she was starting to get too restless.  Either way, she could feel the ~~itch~~ nay the desire to move on as quickly as possible and wanted to know what had changed for her.

 

Dacia felt her desire to get out of this world, crawling up her spine, she only knew that for now, she grew tired of constantly feeling like she had to be constantly engaged and ready to play politics.  It was a bit rich of her to feel this way, given that back Home she was running from one set of bad politics from one planet to the next.  It would seem like it was destined to be a running theme with them – always having to run from one bad situation to the next.

 

For now, though, she was more concerned with whether or not it was her impatience to keep moving, was it possible that she was tricking herself into believing in things that were not there?  Was it possible that it was her nostalgia raising its head again and making her believe in things that aren’t there?  She did not want to believe that this was possible, but she felt as if she would not be able to trust herself until she worked out why she was feeling the things that she was.  Shaking her head out, she turned her attention back to the matter at hand, knowing that it would not serve her well if she got hopelessly distracted.

 

“Okay, we need to keep focused on this matter, at least until we can work out what our next moves should be.  I can try and take the majority of these meetings and allow you two to work on what is happening here.  Just keep me updated, I keep feeling like we are missing something, but I can’t work out what or why I would be feeling like that, it makes no sense!” Dacia told the two when she had digested what she was being told.

 

“I’m happy to continue with that, are you sure though that you will handle both Potts and Hill on your own?  We won’t be there immediately to get you out of trouble if you should need it.” Cassian reminded the woman, a worried look in his eye.

 

“No, I should be fine.  I am a bit worried though that you have forgotten exactly what I am capable of, and I should thank you for remembering who I am.” Dacia testily warned the man.

 

The only excuse that Dacia could think of for why she was behaving in the way that she was was because she was rapidly becoming fed up with being underestimated.  It was one thing to be underestimated by her enemies and people within this universe, simply because she had taken great care to ensure that no one knew of her true capabilities.  She liked it that way; she liked feeling as if she had a trump card that she could fall back on, should she need it.  The only thing that bothered her was when her friends underestimated her; she was big enough to admit that it stung her a little to know that someone thought so little of her.  She supposed that if she did not spend so much time carefully hiding her abilities and not utilising them even when she was on the spaceship.

 

“Has the Force came back then?  I know that you said you were struggling to access it.” Jyn remarked, looking pensive.

 

“It’s not completely _there_ yet; I have been working on getting myself back into contact with it, for now, I can only describe it as comparing to a radio that is just out of frequency.  I have to train myself to access it through a different manner, just easier said than done.  How long until we land, I want to try working on some of my meditative abilities, because at least then I reckon I can start to work out where I can go from here.” Dacia sighed, thinking of some of the things that she wanted to do before they met with the people they had been for so long taking orders from.

 

“Yeah, we don’t have that long, so honestly if you want to meditate you might have just enough time, but don’t do a whole ‘vision quest’ we won’t have enough time for that,” Cassian told the woman with a mocking hand gesture as he spoke.

 

“Oh hah ha.” Dacia mockingly laughed, making a face at the man.

 

She knew that there was little to no point in her getting overly frustrated with the man she knew that this was how the man processed his feelings.  He tended to mock everyone and everything around him when he became stressed.  It could be irritating at times, but it was just the way the man worked.

 

“No, but I feel like if we want to be assured of our safety, then it could be important that I am in touch with the part of me that allows me to reach the Force.  For too long, I have been without it and now that there is even the slightest possibility that I can begin to reclaim some of what I feel allowed me to be more in touch with the Universe.” Dacia explained biting her lip, unsure of what she could expect now.

 

Cassian only nodded distractedly, immediately becoming engrossed in whatever it was that was showing up on the small tablet/phone device he held in his hands.  Jyn looked over at the man, wondering what the man was thinking.  She knew the man well enough at this point to feel comfortable assuming that it was something the man hadn’t anticipated.  She felt worried as she wondered what exactly it was that had the man so freaked out, her worry only increased when she considered that it was more than a safe bet that anything that freaked out Cassian had to be a serious matter.  Especially when it came to anything related to the spaceship that they were all stood on.

 

“Okay, I’m going to go and try and centre myself a bit more, I do not want to go into a situation blind unless I have to, not again.  At the very least it might help me feel more comfortable in my skin.” Dacia confessed before marching from the room.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia wandered out of the room, wondering if she was even going to find the opportunity to listen to her thoughts.  Dacia thought with a gulp that the stakes had gotten so much higher than she could have easily anticipated.  Dacia was well aware that if she didn’t keep an eye on things over the next few days, then it could only prove to be something bad.

 

All her life Jyn had tried to run from the possibility of _ever_ being considered the weak link.  She had had more than enough of walking into situations knowing that she was not at her finest, not ready for even the slightest chance that she might be put through her paces.  That was all going to change now, the end was in sight, and for now, the only thing that she could reasonably do was prepare for anything.  Right now, she did not feel comfortable enough with assuming that everything would work out because a quiet whisper at the back of her mind told her that there were even bigger things to play for.

 

Making her way into her room, Dacia carefully lit one of the scent infusers she had set up around the perimeter of her bedroom.  Dacia did not have a pressing, burning desire to find out what could happen to a naked flame on a spaceship, though she did still have a love for smelly things.  Almost uncomfortable, Dacia thought that she did not particularly feel exceedingly comfortable when she was around flames.  She had spent too much of her life fleeing from explosions, both metaphorical and real explosives.

 

Unrolling her yoga-style mat, Dacia sat her pretzel legged on the mat and closed her eyes; she threw her conscience forward from her body.  She knew that Yoda at least would be annoyed with Dacia for becoming this lackadaisical with her safety, but Dacia hadn’t come across many people in this new Universe that was able to pick up and attack her mind.  Especially not one that was built like hers, Mace would always comment that he had never encountered a mind with as many inbuilt security measures as Dacia’s.

 

She wasn’t even sure whether or not someone like Designation: Scarlet Witch would be able to get into the other woman’s mind, not when they were still onboard this spaceship.  Among some of the more impressive security measures on the ship included prevention for somebody like Designation: Scarlet Witch who only used her powers offensively.  At the very least, Dacia still struggled with being able to reach out to the Force, but she only hoped that it would begin to become even slightly easier for to reach out to the very thing that had for so long given her trouble.  Maybe she theorised that could give her a bit of self-assurance in the days to come.

 

It was with these thoughts in mind that she began to give a customary scan to her new Universe.  She still felt like it was a preach in someone’s private inner-most thoughts if she paid more than the scantest amount of concentration.  In any case, she only wanted to ensure that the wrong people did not know about their presence and that they did not mean her any harm.

 

It also served two-fold, because now Dacia was able to keep an ‘eye’ on whether or not they were likely to be interrupted by anyone from their Home Universe.  Dacia might have nothing more than her gut to go on to tell her that something big was about to happen, but she worried about someone managing to track them down.  Sure, they might have been living in this Universe for a long time, but she wasn’t quite sure on what the progression of time was like in their Universe compared to back home.

 

Still, with her eyes closed, Dacia raised a metaphorical eyebrow when she realised that she could feel something she had missed for a very long time.  It might only be a whisper, but Dacia hoped that it was what she thought it was, not wanting to have hope ripped from her, especially when she had lived her life without for a very long time.

 

Wasn’t it about time for something good to happen to them to them again?

 

She could wonder all she wanted about whether or not this could portend of something even more serious.  Dacia wondered what would happen if a threat from their home universe was able to follow them here, she wasn’t even sure what kind of toll it would take for them to fight.  It had been so long since they had trained with the threats that they could face back Home in mind.  Dacia worried that they had allowed their slip into compliancy slowly, but she shuddered to think of how much time it could take for them to be ready for a threat from back Home.

 

She could only hope that it would never come to that because she wondered if they would be able to pay a high price if it came to it.  Which, Dacia was all too aware could be incredibly high.  She only hoped that blind luck would be enough to see her through any of her upcoming challenges.  She felt comfortable enough to assume that they were indeed on their way.

 

Opening her eyes with a snap, Dacia got up and glanced at the floating clock in her room; she chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to work out whether or not it was going to be a tight squeeze.  Making a quick decision, she decided that she had spent more than enough time meditating.  Normally, Dacia hated spending any time without achieving any of her physical goals, but now she was able to reassure herself, that she had managed to get into contact with something that had long since left her.  To her, that was worth all the stress in the world, that there was even a slim possibility out there that she could begin to reconnect with some of the things that had long ago left her.

 

She did not want to feel cast adrift again, but now that she had felt some of the things coming back to her, she would be able to work on making her connection to the Force that much stronger.  Dacia did not want to know what she does if she were abruptly cut off again from the life-giving force that she had for so long taken advantage of and taken as an entitlement.

 

Casting her hand out to the side again, Dacia watched with a frown as the standard pencil she had earlier left on her bedside cabinet.  She growled to herself when she struggled to lift up the pencil, not feeling much beyond disappointment when she watched the pencil shudder a little in the air.  She tried to reassure her that it was more likely that she would not be able to get back in touch with something that had long evaded her grasp.  If it was going to be difficult for her to levitate the simple pencil, then so be it, she was not the type to shrink from a challenge, even if it just made her angry and wanted to succeed out of nothing more than spite!

 

Looking over at the time again and feeling her eyebrow go up when she realised just how much time she had wasted through her introspection.  She leapt to her feet and hurriedly rolled up the yoga mat before storing it in the back of her closet.  Glancing around the room as she prepared to leave, she darted across the room to gently blow on the scent infuser, not wanting to come back to an overly smelly bedroom!

 

Making her way back through the silver corridors, Dacia hoped a hopeful tune to herself, feeling for the first time in a long time at ease with herself.  She could only hope that it would not take her as long to get back in touch with something that had been so callously ripped from her a long time ago.

 

Dacia had felt that particular loss like an amputated limb; she had only known that if she ever regained the use of the Force again, she would not take it for granted.  She had known how bereft she had felt when she despaired of ever feeling like she could connect with the thing that for so long had made her into the person she was.  She could see how with the benefit of hindsight that it was a mistake for her to have allowed herself to be even passingly defined by one tiny little thing.  She could not be sure whether or not she had realised at the time that she was sleep-walking towards allowing her personality to be shaped by one facet of it, but she would not (could not) allow the same thing to happen to her again.

 

Making her way from the room, she wanted to discuss with Cassian and Jyn some of what she had learnt, some of what she had managed to glean from her most recent meditation.  With a spring in her step, she made her way towards the central computer nodule, wanting to make sure that her friends knew of some of her most recent discoveries.

 

_WHOOSH_

Making her way into the room, she took in a deep breath of air as she looked at her friends.  Upon noticing that the two of them still looked like they were just as restless as they were when she left them, Dacia decided to rip off the metaphorical band-aid and tell them the truth now.

 

“Guys, you know how I sometimes struggle with being able to get in contact with the Force?” Dacia started, unsure of how she should continue to explain.

 

“Yeah, why, has something happened?” Jyn cautiously asked, not wanting to build her hopes up in case Dacia truly had nothing new to share with them.

 

Cassian looked up from the small phone type device in his hand, despite himself.  Carefully eying the man’s ruffled appearance, Dacia thought that even more repairs must be making themselves apparent to the man.

 

“I was able to make a connection with the Force, but I’m worried as to what that could spell for us.  The last time I was able to fully immerse myself with the Force, we were fleeing for our lives.  Though, what concerns me is that the last time I felt a glimmer we had just crossed over into this universe and I’m worried about what it could mean.  On the one hand, it is a good thing that I can feel the Force again, but I’m hesitant to visit the local Cantina and get truly shit-faced, because what if it means that someone has followed us through?” Dacia explained quickly, knowing by now that it could sometimes be easier if the metaphorical band-aid were ripped off.

 

“Wait, but I’m lost wouldn’t that normally be considered a good thing?  Up until now the only thing, we haven’t had much to go on other than our memories of the place.  Heck, we have not even known if it was still standing!” Cassian cautiously remarked, his dark eyes swimming with unasked questions.

 

“Normally, I would say that it is a very good thing, but we can not be sure what condition our Home Universe is in.  Do not forget that when we left it behind, it was still ripping itself apart over differing ideologies.” Dacia cautioned.

 

“Fair point, it could be something that we need to avoid, if and this is a huge _if,_ it’s a threat do we need to add on much more training?” Jyn worriedly asked.

 

“We might do, but Dacia is there any way for you to safely work out exactly what the potential problem is?” Cassian allowed thoughtfully.

 

“I think so, in any case, we might be able to work out exactly what is going wrong.  I will keep my feelers out during the upcoming days and weeks to come, with the precise hope that we should hear something.  In any case, I want to do some more strength training; if there is someone who has followed us, it is more likely that they will be following the Old Ways from our Universe.  If it should be an enemy, I do not think that they will be particularly bothered enough to check up on tactics from here, I do not want us to find more trouble than we need, precisely because we did not bother to keep practising our strategies.  We need to remember how to be able to work together, especially if we come up against a threat from our home.” Dacia cautioned, her eyes growing big as she tried to warn her friends of her worries.

 

“Okay, well we can work on that because at least now we know exactly how many problems we are likely to face at this stage.  Jyn if you start working with Dacia to nail down a routine for us to follow, while I try to land this bird.” Cassian instructed before leaving the room at a quick trot.

 

The two women huddled together to discuss what they would need to focus on.

 

_WHOOSH_

Clint looked up in alarm; he had been seated on the solitary cot-type bed in his cell, his mind whirling through some of the things that he had done, some of the steps that he had taken.  One of the things he wondered about, was at what point he had thought it was an intelligent move for him to act without thinking.  He had long since known that one of his problems included him leaping before he looked.

 

Goodness knows that he still had the aches and pains (thankfully the surface bruises had long since faded) of where he had tried that as an Avenger.  Had he not always been so willing to trust his safety to Stark then?  Why did he not wait to hear what Stark had to say for himself before he marched in all guns blazing?

 

One thing that annoyed him constantly was when people looked down on him, thinking he was stupid, simply because he chooses to use a bow and arrow.  Why did he continue to act in such a way that validated other people’s low expectations of him?

 

He dreaded to think what his beloved Laura thought of him in light of this whole mess.  Laura was fond of saying ‘innocent until proven guilty’, turns out the woman still regretted missing her chance to go to Law School.  Either that or the woman just liked the way the five words sounded.

 

His mind cycled through all of the upcoming possibilities as he tried to work out exactly what he could expect.  Part of a long-forgotten (and often unlistened too) part of his brain whispered that they had landed at some place that had a connection with Stark.  For now, he just hoped that they would live to make it through the upcoming days if Stark did not choose to indulge his merciful, generous side, he dreaded to think what could happen.

 

He had met (and looked) warlords in the eyes and shot them down, he wasn’t sure how far they could push Pepper Potts.  She reminded him of a dragon at times, it might have been amusing to him to watch the woman turn her rage on other people, but now that there was a possibility he could face it?  He could think of nothing more terrifying.

 

Why had he gotten himself involved in this mess again?  He was free and clear; he did not have to worry about his old enemies managing to catch up with him.

 

Hind-sight was as always, he mused, 20-20, not even the great Hawkeye could see all potential outcomes!


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassian begins to discover that things aren't as they seem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys have been following my Tumblr (littleroma.tumblr.com) you'll know that we just got a wee puppy. She's called Luna, guess who I named her after! I've been pretty distracted between playing with her and then I've become obsessed with watching Chicago Fire. Anyway, I'm going on holiday next week again to Waterford for a long weekend, so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be. But if you like the chapter review and kudos guys?

Cassian sighed and shook his head as he wondered how he always managed to get himself in even bigger messes.  It could probably be traced back to his time working as a spy in his Home Universe.  There he had been able to hone his skills, both at getting himself into even bigger messes and getting himself back out again.  He wondered what exactly it said about him that he was used to getting himself out of tight jams.  He wondered if it said something about his friendship with both Dacia and Jyn that the other two women were able to feel comfortable running with him.  Dacia for one was willing to bet that the man’s inherent lucky streak should be utilised more often.

 

At the moment though, Cassian was not thinking of his lucky streak, he had too much on his mind to muse that things were beginning to change.  It was not something that he felt comfortable musing, not while his mind was still racing through some of the things that he wanted to take a closer look at before they got into even more trouble.  He was looking over some of the mechanical logs to the ship, wondering at what point he would have to make sure that he had enough time to look into the problems before they attempted to make any long scale flights.

 

Cassian might not feel sure about a lot of things, but even he knew how vital it could be to have a fully operational spaceship before they needed to open it out really.  Taking in a large lungful of oxygen as he tried to think through some of the things that he would need to make sure he could confidently work.  He felt the stress levels begin to swim up his body as he mentally calculated exactly how much time and effort it would take for him to feel comfortable with the possibility that the spaceship might be needed at any time.

 

Biting his lower lip as he tried to work out exactly what parts he would, Cassian huffed a breath as he thought through some of the parts he would have to acquire and how difficult it would be to acquire some of them.  He was well aware that it could prove to be incredibly time-consuming for him to fabricate some of the parts.  It would not be a first time for him to have to repair the ship, he had already performed some smaller repair jobs, but nothing on this scale.  At the moment he made a mental note to himself to make sure that he had enough time and included his friends in this repair job. Otherwise, he shuddered to think of how long it could take him to repair this spaceship all on his own.

 

Growling to himself under his breath as he thought of exactly how many repairs he would have to be prepared to run, he mentally tabulated some of the lists in order of urgency.  It would not be the first time that Cassian had ever had to perform repair jobs, goodness knows that he had unfortunately become accustomed to hurriedly performing small repairs while soldiers of the Empire were at his back.  Sure, he usually had to go back and ensure that he made any massive errors, but the point was that he could do them.

 

For now, though, he wasn’t comfortable with the idea of performing the same action, not least because now that they were heading towards the Avengers Compound, Cassian could see sometimes where he could properly repair the spaceship.  Sighing to himself when he realised that at least not he would have the time to carry out a deep-dive and make sure that all of the problems were completely resolved.  It might not seem like such a big deal, but Cassian knew that their time in this Universe was beginning to come to an end, he wanted to make sure that there nothing that could spring any nasty surprises on them.

 

Cassian knew that it was only a matter of time before they were called to carry out either offensive or defensive actions.  In the back of his mind, he thought he could feel a stirring of uncomfortable feelings that something **_big_** was about to happen.  He did not want to be the one to drop the ball and leave them open to danger.

 

That was not the only thing on his mind; he had become comfortable with being the one in charge of keeping the prisoners safe and secure.  He wanted to make sure that _when_ they did manage to hand over the Avengers, that they were held in a secure cell, with no chance for them to break out.  The two sides of his mind which were vying for attention, whispered to him that if he had to run it would be difficult to make a Kessel run in a few parsecs if the spaceship was beginning to fall around his ears.

 

Cursing to himself as he turned back to the tablet device clutched in his hand, as his fingers danced over the screens, as he flicked through some of the information in front of him.  He shook his head as he wondered exactly what it would take for all of these problems to simply disappear and resolves themselves.  Hissing to himself as he realised it was unlikely to happen, he would simply have to put his head down and work on the problems.  Some of his allies in his Home Universe had enjoyed pointing out to him that he could be guilty of spending far too much time with his head in the clouds.

 

Deciding that he should go and inform Dacia that he could only foresee an even greater amount of time that he would have to sort out before they move on.  It was a bit of a shame, but Cassian had long since become accustomed to working.  Or at least he hoped that he had, he had been working for too long not to have become used to working through some of his problems.  It would no doubt cause a bit of a headache, but it was something that he was well used to dealing with, he did not want to become the overly cocky person, but he felt that he was confident enough to assume that he could handle most problems that life threw at him.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Making his way through the spaceship, Cassian started to mutter to himself and count the time on his fingertips; he was well aware that he seemingly became a better worker when he was under a time crunch.  Smirking to himself when he came upon another sign of sloth when he entered into the central computer nodule and spied Dacia looking for all the world as if she was ready to begin taking a nap at the desk.

 

Dacia sighed, and looked out of one of the windows in the central computer nodule on the spaceship.  She struggled at times to believe how tiring meditation could be on her; it was not as if she was doing anything physically taxing.  She had to remember that it had taken her a lot of time and energy to get to this point back when she was still in her Home Universe.  She would probably never be able to accurately describe just how taxing it could be to reach into the Force, especially if she was trying to scan minds.

 

Dacia wondered at what point she would begin to feel as if it was second nature for her once again to scan through minds.  She thought to herself that she could compare the Force to being a muscle.  Now she would simply have to build that muscle up again, it might mean more work for her, but she was fully committed to feeling the comfort of the Force once again within her grasp.  It would make her feel slightly more comfortable if she was able to reach the Force and use it to her benefit.

 

For now, though, it did not matter how in depth her scans could be, because for right now, while she was simply attempting to gloss over the minds.  At least until she became more adept at being able to use the Force again.  She only wanted to ensure that it would not become remotely feasible that no one was going to burst out of the proverbial bushes and attack them.  It turns out that she would always have to worry about building up her strength.  Especially if she wanted to be able to do the things she had once found a little easier.

 

It might take her some time and effort, but she felt as if it would be well worth the effort for her to have that skill back under her command.

 

Looking over at Cassian, Dacia quietly groaned to herself; she could see that the man looked as if he had come to some disturbing conclusions.  She wondered to herself what those conclusions were; she felt as if she could not take the possibility of even more unwelcome news.  Shaking her head to herself when she tried to bring her attention back to the problem at hand, knowing that for now at least she had to make sure that she kept her attention focused on what was happening.

 

Stifling a yawn, she peered at the man, wondering how she should best begin to speak, was there enough time for her to beat around the bush while she tried to work out what exactly was happening around her?  Or would Cassian appreciate it more if she simply plunged into business, getting directly to the heart of the matter?  Whatever that matter was.

 

“Cassian, is everything okay?  You look worried about something?” Dacia remarked, deciding that she did not have enough time to pussyfoot around the problem.

 

“Yes and no, I know that we are going to be landing soon at the former Avengers Compound in upstate New York.  I knew that I would have some repairs to carry out on the ship, but I did not anticipate exactly how far-ranging those issues were.  For one thing, the engine on this spaceship is going to need a greater amount of work, especially if I want to get it to a point where I can feel comfortable enough travelling on this rig.” Cassian told the woman agitatedly.

 

“Okay, we can work with that, you said the spaceship needs a greater amount of repairs done, I am guessing that you will not be able to perform those repairs while we are still travelling.  My second question is; will it take a greater amount of effort for you to acquire the parts that you need?” Dacia asked, her mind beginning to whir through a few of the possibilities that worried her the most.

 

“It won’t be easy, but with your permission, I might end up needing both yourself and Jyn’s help to jury rig a few of the parts.  Though, you told us that we would be going to Dr Stark’s home, correct?  If the man can live up to his genius mechanic label, he might be able to help us.  I do want to caution you though, that it would not be a good idea for us shoot off and go on both a long distance and time trip, at least not while I can not assure the safety of this rig.  Not to my satisfaction at any rate.” Cassian cautioned the two, squeezing his eyes shut while he thought.

 

“Okay, we can work with that, I can probably stall a bit with any meetings we have.  Cassian, do you feel confident enough to assume that the Avengers we have locked in our cells, will be kept safe and secure?” Dacia quickly thought.

 

“I will want to look through their cells; I do not feel I need to point out to you guys that it could be bad if any of them escape, right?” Cassian sarcastically double-checked.

 

“That would be bad, I for one do not want to think through what could happen if we do not ensure that the former Avengers are kept safe.  I do not particularly relish the prospect of having to hunt them down, all because we put our eggs in the one basket.” Jyn nodded at the two, backing up Cassian.

 

“No, that would be a bit of a deal-breaker for us.” Dacia thoughtfully mused.

 

Dacia watched thoughtfully as Cassian began to busy himself in the room, Dacia thought that the man was maybe looking for more problems.  She could see that the man was beginning to look as if he was harried.  Dacia quietly gulped, knowing that if the man were completely aware of his body language, he would be fighting to lock his emotions down.  The situation must be even worse than she thought because Cassian might be trying to hold back some of his worries so that he did not freak out his friends.

 

She wished from time to time that the man would simply tell it to them straight, at the very least because she sometimes wished that the man could simply let the man know what was going on.  It could be a tricky problem because was ignorance bliss?

 

“You ready?  We need to nail this meeting.” Dacia checked with the woman.

 

“I know I have heard it all before, as you are so fond of stating time after time first impressions count,” Jyn muttered, rolling her eyes.

 

Dacia snorted, laughing at her friend, knowing that the other woman might like to pretend to get bored with Dacia from time to time.  The woman was never outwardly angry with her, at least she never bothered to raise her voice at Dacia.  She sometimes wondered how she was likely to react if Jyn started to shout at her.  Dacia could only wonder what it would take for her to start crying some days, she dreaded some days, knowing that the overly taxing says could sap at her energy.

 

“You know why I am pointing it out though?  It’s incredibly important that we should know _exactly_ how to play our cards here.  We are in the home straight now; I do not want for us to lose sight of what we are doing here.” Dacia tiredly started, beginning to sound not for the first time like a broken record.

 

She was well aware that she was starting to sound a bit like a broken record, but she could not help it, she needed to make sure that her friends knew how the next few days should play out.  At the moment all she wanted was to make sure that they all knew how they should approach the next few days.  Dacia would be damned if they got pulled into further work, all because Dacia had not warned them on what to expect.  She felt as if they knew what they could expect, but she only hoped that they realised how high the stakes were; they might not come with a physical toll, but she privately thought that if they made one wrong move here, it could prove to be just as dangerous.

 

Rubbing a hand over her face, Dacia shouldered one of her bags and glanced over the room, wanting to make sure that she had not left anything behind.  Sucking at one of her gums when she realised that she had not left anything behind.  She hurried from the room, ready to do battle.  It did not matter to her, that it was simply going to be a mental battle, where she was kept on her toes at all times, not wanting to over-step her bounds.

 

Taking a small breath of air, she made her way through the spaceship, ready to attend a meeting, knowing that she would need to be able to focus on her upcoming tasks.  Hurrying to catch up with Cassian, wanting to make sure that the trio was ready to put on a united front.  Glancing behind her, she waited for Jyn to catch up with them, wanting to make sure that when they all went out, it would be with each other.

 

The trio had had countless discussions together on how they could expect the next few days to proceed; they were well aware that they should follow Dacia’s lead.  It was with this thought in mind that they were able to move to look for all the world like they had been choreographed in advance.  Maybe they looked this way because Dacia had tried her hardest to ensure that that they moved as one.  Normally, she did not acting as if her friends did not know in which way they should act, but for now, it was important that they should project a united front.  At least until this had been dealt with, after such a time, they could begin to let their hair metaphorically down.

 

When Jyn had met up with them, the three nodded at one another and began to walk together towards the exit to the spaceship.  It might be painfully boring to them to have to go through these motions, especially after the previous few months had been a non-stop action movie, but Dacia was glad of the break.  She could count on now having to use her brain to work out what she wanted to do. Next, it would be rather like exercising a different muscle she told herself.

 

The trio made their way as one towards the door to the spaceship, as one pasting on bright and happy smiles.  Cassian, at least knew that he had to keep an eye on his surroundings, something that he was sure was a leftover from his time as a spy, he was always prepared to have to fight at a moment’s notice.  Thankfully he did not notice anything, so he put three-quarters of his energy into keeping an eye on what was going on with the people in front of him.  He was well aware that it was probably not a good thing for him to remain so paranoid, but his only defence was that it had kept him alive this long, it could only be a good thing.  He would continue with his paranoia until such a time when it looked as if it stopped serving him.

 

Gazing at the figures in front of her, Dacia mentally told herself that it was time for her to put on her big girl panties and put her new degree to use.  She knew that she did not want to start thinking of all her studying being for nothing.  Fighting the urge to begin running a hand through her hair, she was not sure whether or not she could trust these people not to use any potential weaknesses against her, but for now, she did not want to show any signs of potential weakness.  Especially if they could come back to haunt her at a later date.

 

“Hello, my name is Dacia, but while I am here, please call me Darcy Lewis.  These are my associates; Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor.” Dacia calmly introduced herself, deciding that for now, she did not particularly want to waste words.  Not when they still had business to discuss.

 

“Hi, my name is Virginia Potts, I along with Ms Hill here have been the primary two that you have been emailing with.  I am assuming that you have the prisoners with you?  Would you like to follow me inside?” Ms Potts spoke calmly, holding her hand out to the group to shake.

Dacia carefully shook hands with the woman, refraining from doing anything more than a basic glossing-type scan.  She simply wanted to ensure that these people meant her no harm, she would not willingly lead her friends like lambs to the slaughter.  Dacia had long worked to make sure that she could be held as separate from the Jedi of old, who had forgotten that there was always a price to pay, she would not become the type who thought that the end justified the means.  You could ask her to do anything but that.  She would fight tooth and nail to avoid falling into _that_ particular harmful stereotype.  As the young people of this Universe were fond of saying ‘fuck that noise’, she might not completely understand the background of that phrase, but it was apt in this situation.

 

Ms Potts, an attractive looking strawberry blonde looked in place as she introduced herself to the group.  Dacia wondered whether or not it was likely that the woman was holding back on her, at the very least holding back any visible signs of stress.  She felt her respect for the grow, not least because she felt more like she could respect someone that knew how to control her outward appearance.  Dacia wondered if it was part of the woman’s position as a CEO.  She knew that it was more likely that the woman had long since grown accustomed to keeping her emotions in check, especially when it came to practices in the business industry.  Dacia did not even think she was capable of imagining the amount of denigration that the woman could face if she even started to crack.

 

Ms Hill, one who with some further investigation work, Dacia had learned was Commander Hill, looked slightly severe.  Fighting the temptation to raise an eyebrow as she took in the stiff posture the woman was standing in.  Dacia wondered if the woman always looked like she was ready to start fighting.  It was no way to live, Dacia knew that she preferred only having to fight at certain points when it was necessary.

 

Cassian meanwhile took in the woman’s perfect parade rest posture and wondered in what capacity the woman had served.  Making no mistake the woman had served in some capacity, at some point in her life, Cassian wondered where the woman might have seen combat.  He thought judging by the stance the woman held when she was walking that the woman looked to be incredibly efficient.  Hill had also become used to holding a gun or some other weapon at her hips if the way that she was swinging her arms out as she walked was any indication.

 

Dacia frowned at the woman and quickly began to follow the woman, knowing that she needed to get some things straight.

 

“Yes, they are indeed in the spaceship, but before we release them to you guys, we would like to see where you intend on keeping them.  We do not want to face the possibility of us having to chase after them again.  While it was not that difficult for us to capture them, except Designation: Black Widow, we do not want to have to re-perform the same actions.” Dacia coolly told the group in front of the woman.

 

Nodding over at Cassian and Jyn, the trio followed the woman leading them further into the bright and airy building.  She knew that for now, it would make sense if the three of them could follow into this meeting, so at the very least they could start on the same page.  She knew that it would ultimately be up to her to make sure that her friends were kept informed, but for now, she felt that it was very important that they started by singing on the same hymn sheet.  When they walked through the building, Dacia found herself looking around impressed, she enjoyed the clean lines on display, the architectural display in the building evident that the building had been completely redesigned.  She wondered at what point it would be considered odd that she should find somewhere that was still attached to the ground.  Dacia could admit that she sometimes felt a little nostalgic for time spent on the ground.

 

She might be used to travelling around on a spaceship, but she sometimes found that she missed the solid ground.  Anytime that Dacia found herself on a long stretch of time at space, she found that there were some things that she still missed from back on Solid Ground.  She frequently found herself yearning for the simpler things in life, like decently good water pressure, or even proper flushing toilets.  She found that even though her home Universe was supposed to be far advanced of anything from here, chemical toilets were still a thing (and still a complete and utter nuisance).  She rarely found that she felt clean after taking a quick shower, which she likened to more like an air freshener.

 

Glancing over at Jyn, she realised that it looked as if the woman was also entertaining similar thoughts, she tried to hide her snort when she wondered exactly what the woman was thinking.  Sneaking a small glance over at Cassian she noticed that the man was simply peering around him, no doubt looking into a few of the darkened corners while he tried to suss through what was going on.  Dacia struggled not to roll her eyes at the man’s paranoia, the only thing that she could be sure about the man at times.  She did not want to knock it too much, because after all, it had kept the man alive this long, she did not want to knock it too much.

 

Even if it occasionally got irritating.

 

Familiarity was nice though, do not get her wrong.

 

Following Ms Potts and Ms Hill into a conference room, with a long beautiful glass table stretched in the middle of the room.  The table was lined with white plush chairs, which were set against chrome hardware.  Looking down the table, Dacia noticed a few figures sitting at the conference table, one of whom she recognised as being the African American Air Force Commander Rhodes.  Dacia privately wondered to herself why American’s seem to have _such_ an obsession with saying where someone was from, even if they had rarely (if ever) stepped foot in the place that preceded the word American.  She took note of the man sitting in a wheelchair and traded a sneaky glance with Jyn.  She was well aware that the woman might be able to do something, but she did not want to risk raising the man’s hopes for nothing.

 

That alone would be needlessly cruel to the man, not without having spoken to Jyn; the woman might have some brilliant ideas on how the man could proceed in his healing plan.  She wanted to know for definite if they could offer anything before she built up the man’s hopes.

 

Jyn, after all, was not a miracle worker, and would never claim to be a miracle worker.

 

Dacia did not want to put words into her friend’s mouth, knowing that if she said the wrong thing and Jyn could not deliver the two of them would feel like a complete heel.  Dacia would do anything to shield her friend from _that_ kind of hurt; goodness knows that Jyn had been let down enough and suffered more betrayals than she could count in her lifetime.  Dacia did not want to become the next in a long line of hurts.

 

She simply had access to better technology from their home Universe, but it was unclear whether or not that could be counted as a modern day miracle.  Something told her that it could not be a miracle, especially if Jyn were making use of her unique advantages.

 

Sitting, or more like floating, beside the man was a purple and red android, who Dacia instantly recognised as The Vision.  Dacia wondered if at any point The Vision would allow them to question him (gently) about some of his theories about his creation.  Dacia could admit that she had a great number of theories, some of which she knew were shared by Cassian and Jyn.  Cassian she knew, was a little more familiar with androids and robots from their Home Universe, but she suspected that the basic makeup of the androids was even slightly different.

 

Strangers in a strange land, indeed!

 

Shaking her head, she followed Ms Potts, gestures to sit on the other side, stepping back slightly and allowing both Cassian and Jyn to step over.  The trio had already organised what order they were going to sit, not least because they did not particularly want to look as if they could not present a united front.  With this thought in mind, Jyn sat on Dacia’s immediate left while Cassian sat on her immediate right.

 

“Hello, my name is Virginia Potts, this is Commander Hill, that over there is Air Force Commander James R. Rhodes and The Vision.  Would you like to introduce yourselves?  It would be so nice if we knew who exactly we are dealing with.” Ms Potts introduced herself again, before pointing at each member as she introduced them.

 

“Hello, this is Cassian Andor, that is Jyn Erso, I go by the name of Darcy Lewis, while in this Universe.  We captured the Rogue Avengers and we need to know where we can leave them.  You understand that we still have some concerns about holding them, is there anything you can do to reassure us of your ability to hold them before they escape humanely?” Dacia nodded, speaking slowly.

 

“We have cells completely outfitted here that should be able to hold the former Avengers.  When you took them from the R.A.F.T, they should **not** have been held there, not least because they were held without due process.  It does not seem as if they even had their rights read to them, not as far as I have been able to see in any case.  For now, though would you like to have a look at the cells we have here?  After this meeting I mean?” The Vision evenly told the small group, spreading his hands wide to indicate his intense honesty.

 

“That would be good, Cassin here is in charge of making sure that the prisoner's cells are kept clean and safe for the rest of us.  He will no doubt want to make sure that wherever we leave these people, that his effort is not wasted.  For now, though we want to make sure that you can hold onto these people.  Is there anything else that you guys can think of that we might need to have in place before we leave them here?” Dacia calmly asked.

 

“That is fine; we haven’t met before, so we need to know how you came to be messed up in all this.  You understand, with all of the heightened security we have around this compound; we do not like to take in anyone unless we can completely vouch for their intentions.  You understand this right?” Commander Hill words were sharp as he tried to make her meaning clear.

 

“Just so, we have provided you’re A.I. Friday with some of our background information.  We can, of course, get a hard copy to you if that is what you prefer.” Jyn told the trio.

 

“Wait, you know that we can not trust anyone who does provide a full and accurate description of their abilities.  So how do you expect us to be able to trust you if you can not even find it in yourselves, to be honest about what you can do?” The Vision evenly asked them.

 

“There are some things that we can not in good conscious allow out about ourselves.  All you need to know for now is that we are very powerful and that we have the capability of fully becoming your worst nightmare if you cross us.” Cassian quietly warned, already becoming rapidly irritated with the way that they were speaking.

 

“Cassian!  What Cassian means to say is that we are more powerful than you could imagine and we do not want information on ourselves circulating around out there.  It is not that we do not trust you, we do not trust the integrity of computer systems.  Do not trust that there is something that we discount you, we do not trust anyone that we have not already worked alongside, going through a baptism of fire.” Dacia warned.

 

“Very well, but you understand that this will only mean that it takes us longer to trust you.” Commander Rhodes icily reminded the group.

 

“Look, we did our job, we captured those people.  All you need to know for now is that mean no threat to you.” Cassian testily reminded the group.

 

Dacia felt like banging her head against the table, she struggled to reign in her emotions at this rapidly de-escalating meeting.  It was not the first time she wondered why Cassian could become such a hot head, when he was normally so stoic.  She guessed that it was because the guy was rapidly becoming incredibly agitated at the minute.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

“Guys, I have not heard the engines on this thing in a while.  What is happening out there?” Scott nervously asked.

 

Scott had become rapid more and more agitated as he tried to work out exactly what was happening to him.  His emotions felt as if he had been cast adrift, with little to no hope of him finding his way out of this situation.  He turned the problem over in his head once again, while he tried to work out exactly what was happening.  He wished that he could know what had happened to make him think that this had been the right choice for him.

 

In spending time on this spaceship, he had had time enough to consider some of his past actions, just like he had in San Quentin.  He had not felt ashamed of his actions **_THEN_** because how could he?

 

Now though?  That was a completely different matter, because that woman, Jyn, had made sure that he knew all the particulars of what exactly he had gotten himself messed up in.  He might not be completely in touch with his conscience, he always had a problem with fully listening to that little voice in the back of his head telling him what to do.

 

Now, though, now that he knew some of what he had been party to, he wished that he had listened more to that little voice.

 

Not for the first time did he wish that he had listened to it even more, maybe if he had developed that skill more he would not be in this mess.

 

Hindsight was 50-50 he found especially applicable in this case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter, review and kudos guys?


	24. Chapter 24

Cassian growled to himself as he tried once again to hold in his temper, opening and clenching his fist while he tried to rein in his temper.  That meeting had not gone the way that he had foreseen it going, he could normally hold his temper satisfactorily, but when he already felt stressed there was no telling what could happen.  He might also have missed out on a few meals while he tried to work out exactly what was going wrong with the spaceship.

 

It turns out Snickers were right; you aren’t you when you’re hungry.

 

Making his way into the little mechanical room he had set up in the bottom of the spaceship, he sorted through some of the tools he had.  Whistling lowly to himself, he tidied through a few of the tools that he had earlier left sitting on the table.  Cursing to himself as he realised he was simply stalling for time, while he tried to sort through his reactions in that meeting.  Rapidly becoming aware of how much his belly was rumbling, he put down his tools with a sigh and began to clean up after himself.  He tried to make another mental note to himself to come back in and ensure that everything was kept completely clean.  Grabbing a rag he ran it over his hands, taking extra care to ensure that his hands were kept completely clean, it would not do him any good if he sat down to eat still with oily hands.  Screwing up his nose a little, as he wondered exactly how nasty oil and grease could taste.

 

He was not sure of what could happen to him if he accidentally poisoned himself on the stuff.  If he could not get to Jyn in time, he was not sure how long he could reasonably expect to be able to get himself medical care if he needed it.  Some of the chemicals in the engines and oils around here could be incredibly toxic.  Doubly so now because some of the chemicals he had had to develop only ran the risk of being even more toxic than he would like to admit.  He did not particularly relish the opportunity to find out exactly how toxic the grease and oil could be, not when he was not sure what kind of recovery he could expect.

 

Making himself a small feast as he tried to sort through some of the thoughts in his mind, he only looked down when he noticed that he made himself a lot of food.  He had made himself a grilled cheese sandwich, a bowl of chicken soup, and a fresh salad.  Growling to himself as he made his way over to the small table and after setting the food down on the table, he perched on the seat and began to plough through the food.

 

Raising his eyebrow in surprise when he realised that he had clearly been more hungry than he expected.  There was nothing but a few scant crumbs left after his hearty lunch, smirking when he realised that it meant that there was not as much waste to tidy up, it would only be a small tidy.  He took the now almost cleaned plates and deposited them in the sink, humming to himself again as he turned on the taps and scrubbed the plates.

 

Wash, rinse, replace indeed!

 

Realising that he had been humming music that he had picked up years ago at one of the many Cantina’s he had staked out over a long life as a spy.  It was crazy the satisfying nature of skills he had managed to learn in that life.  His alcohol tolerance might have improved a bit, but his intolerance for bullshit had plummeted.  Not that he was out of that life, for the time being, he had been able to step back and realise that there were still some things that did not work out for him, and some things that he liked.  On one of his odd days when he had felt slightly more vulnerable he had confided in Dacia some of his suspicions, she had reassured him that it was natural he was able to come to more conclusions with a bit of distance between him and that point in time.

 

When he had the washing up finished, Cassian swiped an apple and frowned at it before leaving the room behind him.  The apple was not fresh; he should probably look into acquiring more fresh fruit and vegetables before they would have to leave again.  He wondered if it was possible that he could tweak the formula that allowed him to keep fresh food, goodness knows that it could prove beneficial for their health.  He wondered if it could work if he tweaked the end part of that formula, he found his to-do list growing as he began to tease out ideas in his head.

 

“K-2SO, are you compiling a to-do list for me because I have a feeling that I am going to need to be more organised.” Cassian sighed.

 

“Yes Sir, in fact, if you look at the hologram screen, I have compiled some of the tasks for you.” K-2SO dispassionately told the man.

 

Cassian looked over to the side; and felt his stomach plummet to his feet as he saw his tasks laid out in front of him.  He growled when he realised that it looked as if K-2SO had counted each repair job as a separate issue.  He thought that this little piece of passive-aggression was fair enough, it would all technically be something else that he needed to take care of.  Wishing that he did not have to perform so many little actions, which all combined could only serve to become fritter some little time wasters.

 

“Sir, if you work with Jyn and Dacia on this, I can limit down your task list, there are some other things that I feel you need to pay more attention too.” K-2SO dispassionately continued.

 

“Yeah, that is fine, I was going to see if I could work with them anyway.” Cassian rolled his eyes.

 

He started to hurry through the corridors of the spaceship, wanting to get back to his friends.  Cassian knew at this point that he would have to discuss this matter in more depth, make sure that his friends would know what their roles were to be.  He felt that it was important for them to know some of their roles at this point.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Shaking his head as he entered in the central computer nodule, he sighed looking over at both Dacia and Jyn.  The two of them were standing hunched over a computer monitor, Dacia for one was poking at the screen, frowning when she scanned through the information.  Jyn left the woman and made her way over to the printer at the edge of the computer nodule.

 

The printer was whirling loudly, shaking back and forth as it struggled to print out some documents.  It was the documents that they had promised to give both Ms Hill and Ms Potts.  Making his way over to Dacia, he raised an eyebrow at the woman, wanting to know what exactly was going through the woman’s mind but feeling unsure as to know he should go about asking.

 

“We were editing through the file of information that they want us to provide them again.  Are you okay after that meeting?  You were starting to get a bit harsh, Cassian, I need to know if I can trust you going forward in this process.” Dacia frostily asked.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, I was a little hungry.” Cassian shortly told the woman, not liking where the woman was going.

 

“And have you eaten now?  Because Cassian you seemed like you were seconds away from jumping down their throats!” Jyn checked wandering over to the two, eyeing Cassian as she did so.

 

“Yeah, I’ve eaten.  I think that I simply had not eaten in a while and you know how much politics and speaking carefully can irritate me.  I went further through a few of the repair jobs needed to perform on this spaceship.  It’s slightly overwhelming, to say the least.” Cassian leaned back on the counter behind him.

 

“Yeah, that’s fine, I thought we agreed a while ago that I would take the majority of the meeting while you two work through some of the repairs on this spaceship.  That is still the plan right?” Dacia checked.

 

“Yes, that’s the plan, what exactly were you editing out?  You know that it might take us some more time to trust us if we have censored the information that they have on us.” Cassian warned raising a brow, knowing that now he might have to play catch up to make the women trust him again.

 

“I have considered that, but some things about us are not pertinent to them knowing about us.  Even if we told them exactly where are from, it would mean anything, simply because they would not know where exactly we were talking about, they would not be able to travel there.  At the same time though, there are things that I do not want to get out about us.  Our information should be safe behind our firewalls, right?  So, I do not feel as if we need to worry about them managing to broach our security.  F.R.I.D.A.Y. might be incredibly advanced for what she is, but Artificial Technology as it stands in this Universe is a bit more rudimentary than what we are used to.” Dacia sighed, running a hand through her hair.

 

“With all due respect Ms Lewis, I have come across several attempts on their part to broach our security.  So far, between us, both K-2SO have easily been able to see off those attacks, but we worry that it may be attempting to lure us into a false sense of security.  I want to ask your permission to strengthen some of the firewalls around this spaceship; I would hate if we failed right when you needed full security and peace of mind with regards to your data.” BODHI told the three, his voice sounding calm and as if he did not want to cause any tension among the group.

 

“Do that, as you said, we do not need to be lured into a false sense of security all because we were being too arrogant and assumed that no one would be able to broach our security.  In the meantime though, Cassian until I know that I can trust you again I do not want you to go into any meetings.  Not until I know that I can trust you to hold your tongue when you get agitated, is that okay?” Dacia calmly told the two.

 

“Yeah, that is probably for the best, we do not need to get side-tracked by my behaviour.  Not when you need to fully focus on the matter at hand, namely tying up loose strings here.” Cassian waved off the woman’s concerns.

 

“Alright, are you two alright for me to leave you to attend this meeting?  I have a feeling that something big is looming on the horizon for us.” Dacia quietly told the other two, before grabbing the cooled sheets.

 

Looking down at the sheets in front of her, she briefly looked at the sheets in front of her before nodding to herself as she saw to her satisfaction that the pages contained no information that she thought should get out there.  Lifting the pages up, she carefully snapped them together against the table to ensure that they were all kept in proper order.  Sliding the papers into a manila folder, Dacia held the file against her chest before she nodded at two and flicked her tongue once against her gum before leaving the room behind her.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia made her way from the room, as she did thinking about some of what she wanted to say to these people.  She found it very important to her that she had a firm plan on what she had to say before she went in and made a great big ball up of the meeting.  For now, though, it was important to her that she should know what to say and what to expect before she made any movements.

 

Slowing down her walk slightly before she made her way into the compound, she composed her face, not wanting to let anything slip.  She cleared her throat before leaving the spaceship and squinting slightly in the sun.  Dang it, she knew that she had forgotten her sunglasses!

 

Pausing, slightly to allow her eyes to adjust to the sun, she turned her feet in the direction of the compound.  Waiting briefly at the glass sliding doors, she waited briefly until the doors slid open.  Knowing which direction, she should walk in, Dacia steered her feet towards one of the large meeting rooms.  For now, she knew that she would have to play it by ear, to be sure that she was not about to put her foot in it all over again.  For all that she loved Cassian (as a friend), she wished that her friend had not stuck his foot in it so spectacularly yesterday.  It would be a massive catch up game now, one that she was determined not to lose.

 

Taking a breath in, she pushed open the door to the conference room and steeled her nerves again as she walked through the door, seeing the faces peering back at her.  She saw that for today, she was meeting with Ms Potts, Ms Hill, Mr Rhodes (she was not sure if the man was still a member of the Air Force) and The Vision.  This was not going to be an easy experience.

 

Setting the files down on the table, Dacia sorted through them briefly, until she found what she was looking for and pushed the files across the desk.  As she was sitting down, she smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt, making sure that she sat down neatly, not wanting to have a hair or her skirt out of place. That was not what she wanted to portray herself as, not here and not now.

 

“I wanted to preface this meeting with an apology for my associate’s behaviour yesterday, but I have compiled some of that information for you guys.  It is contained within those files, all I ask of you now is that you take great care not to allow that information to leak out.  Is there anything else you guys would like to discuss before we can move this whole thing forwards?” Dacia coolly told the two.

 

“I still do not completely understand why you falter from sharing that information with us.  Do you not trust us or something?  We have never been anything but straight with you guys, why have you decided that it is for the best not to trust us?” The Vision asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Ah, it is not that we do trust you, but rather that we feel as if we can not trust anyone with the information, you understand why we feel that way because we have so much more to lose if it should ever get out.  We have managed to pick out some of the information here that we think you guys have a right to see.  It is not us simply being paranoid; we do not want every last detail on us getting out.  The way we see it is that you don’t need to know every little thing about it, some of that information could be harmful both to ourselves and others.  If we want to continue to operate in secret, then we have to make sure that enough of our data is kept the way we like it – namely a secret.” Dacia stressed, beginning to become agitated.

 

“Do you not trust us enough to safely store all of your Data?  You have to know that we mean you no harm, but while you are here, we need to know that we can trust you.  So far though, while you might have captured the former Avengers, you have not proven to us in any capacity whether or not we can trust you.” Vision pressed further.

 

“Can we put this matter to the side for the moment, because right now we have bigger fish to fry.  What do you want to do with the former Avengers?” Rhodes interrupted, sounding like he was starting to lose his temper with how slowly things were progressing.

 

“We do not want these people to face a court of public opinion.  While we can understand that option might seem like it will provide gratification in the short term, I want to warn you that it will not prove to be something that keeps you warm on the cold nights ahead.  While I do not want to say a lot about our background, trust me that we have been down that road, there is nothing good to be good to be found if you travel further down that path.” Dacia started piously, sounding unsure about which way she should continue.

 

“I want them to face justice for what they did.  If for no one else but Tony, the man has had enough things taken from him by _those_ people.  I want them to pay, why should Tony have to shoulder all of this burden alone.” Ms Potts sounded slightly distraught.

 

Dacia thought that it was interesting that no the woman’s indestructible had shown a chink in it.  She wondered if it was the stress of the past few days beginning to bear down on the woman’s state of mind.  She thought that this was likely to be the reason, but she did not want to bring it up just in case the woman should not want any more attention drawn to it.

 

“Pepper, Tony was not the only one hurt by those people, you know that right?” Rhodes muttered.

 

Virginia spluttered, as she tried to regain some of her composure, her mind beginning to work in overdrive as she tried to work out how exactly she should process this going forward.

 

“Look, I am going to go further into this matter, but they are right, Pepper.  If we go down that path of needless revenge, I might not be able to say where it leads, but what I can tell you is that you will not like where it leads.  I have seen too many good agents at SHIELD go down that same path, to be comfortable with going down it for myself.  You have to send these people to a court of law; they have to feel the full force of the long arm of the law, at the very least they have to know that they should face the consequences for what they have done.” Ms Hill cautioned, her voice pitched low as she gently reminded Ms Potts what was going on.

 

“I could calculate the odds all you want; I could give you statistics about what it could be found down that path.  But please listen to us Ms Potts, we don’t want to be the killjoys intent on getting our revenge on those people.  If anything else, we need to send out a message that it’s more important that we follow the rules to the letter on this one, ensure that we dot the ‘I’s and cross our ‘T’s yes?” Vision explained.

 

“Yes, yes, but they broke out of that original prison they were being held.  I do not want that to happen again; we have the complete laundry list of crimes against them to ensure that they do not get out on a technicality!  I do not want everyone around this table; I do not want our actions to be for anything.  We need to be able to ensure that nobody manages to walk on this.” Ms Potts spoke, sounding incredibly frazzled.

 

“Ms Potts, as long as you can ensure that some of the evidence that we managed to collect against those people is used.  They will not be able to walk again, oh my apologies Mr Rhodes, but if Vision here is willing to testify that both Designation: Scarlet Witch and Designation: Hawkeye sent him through a hole, we might be able to make those charges stick to them.  We do not have any access to a signed affidavit, about the whole dust-up at that airport in Germany, not for those two at least.  Have you managed to find anything that might be used to make those charges stick against them.” Dacia even informed the woman.

 

“It will take us some time for us to be able to find anything from there, but I might have some names which I can reach out to.  Names that will not be very happy with any of either Romanoff’s or Rogers’ former crew getting off scot-free.  It is the time that those people realise that it is time that they begin to pay the piper.  You have Romanoff though, right?” Ms Hill told them, her eyes scanning through one of the sheets in front of her.

 

“You know, I still can not for the life I work out why they choose to pursue those actions during the downfall of SHIELD.  They had to know that it would not inspire goodwill within the ordinary rank and file of former SHIELD members that they burned, so why did they choose to buy into that line of attack?” Mr Rhodes mused.

 

“They figured that since they had the protection of Stark, the money of the man bankrolling their every movement and feeding their bellies.  They forgot that the ordinary rank and file members of SHIELD, they might not all have been licensed killers, but they do know how to nurse a grudge.  It was bad enough that those people, by which I’m talking about both Romanoff and Rogers, were able to slink back into the shadows, only coming up for oxygen at some points, usually when they were saving the world.  It later came through in rumours, whispers and innuendo, that Rogers was hunting down the one who was allegedly the Winter Soldier.  Until the whole mess when both Rogers and Wilson, who was starting to become a bit of a player on that stage, were arrested in Bucharest, nobody had been able to draw out a concrete connection.” Ms Hill started.

 

“Okay, but where is this leading us to?  I am assuming that you are not simply leading us up the garden path for shits and giggles. Ms Potts dryly remarked.

 

“No, I am not, but for now you need to make sure that you know this part, it is important.  From that point on, it got out that the Winter Soldier was Rogers’ childhood friend, one James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes, so it only took a while for them to be able to add one and one and get three.  While the remaining SHIELD agents still value their own lives enough, they will not go after Barnes alone, not unless they go with a full battalion at their backs.  The point, though, is that now Rogers’ has a public weak spot and the agents can use it to exploit the man.  Parts of why their data was leaked is beginning to make sense to them.  It could be explained away as Rogers’ simply not understanding computers, but it does not explain Romanoff’s actions.  For one thing, she was supposed to know computers, she had floated herself as one of the best analysts slash agents slash profilers.  She should have been able to know why exactly such a step was incredibly foolish.  My guess though?  Those baby blues fooled her.  She would not be the first, and she will no be the last.  If it was anything else, I daresay that her actions could simply be waved away, but between the two of them they got a great many lives killed, not just agents, but families and support staff.” Ms Hill continued explaining as if she had not been interrupted.

 

“Okay, now the former Avengers were not being held legally.  So I can foresee this as being a bit of an uphill battle, especially if any weaknesses are perceived.  The videos from Siberia have not gotten out yet, right?  At the moment, Dr Stark has still gone dark; we have no way to tie the two together, at least not in the public eye.” Dacia thoughtfully told the small group facing her.

 

“Wait, how did you get that footage of that fight?  You should not have been able to access that footage?  The files that we have of that footage is still heavily encrypted.  So, my question is – how did you manage to find footage that we have been struggling to work with?” Ms Hill replied to the woman, alarmed.

 

“Oh, now we are much better at this than you imagine.” Dacia smiled mysteriously, refusing to elaborate further when pressed.

 

“Okay, look we could argue about this all day, _or_ we could work on where we want to be able to find someplace we can leave the Avengers.  We need to know where we can leave them before we are pressed about this matter. Further, we still have some more important things that we need to focus on before this matter goes any further.” Rhodes cut in impatiently.

 

“Right, you are, we can work on scouring for prisons across the rest of the world.  Dacia, do you have any contacts that we could rely upon in a pinch to see where we can leave those people?” Ms Hill tried to get the meeting back on track.

 

“Yes, we have a few contacts that we may be able to reach out too, I am just checking is there no one that you guys could reach out to on an S.I. front?” Dacia thoughtfully replied.

 

Her mind was already whirling through a few of the options that were left available to her as a result of Ms Hill’s words.  She wondered if Jyn had successfully made contact with anyone over at the State Department.  Off the top of her head, she was not able to easily remember whether or not Jyn had reached out, or even heard anything concrete.  She was aware at this point that it could be risky for them to reach out.

 

“We have a few contacts over at the State Department, but as of now, we are not sure whether or not we can trust the veracity of anything that they could tell us.  It is a bit of a shitshow over there with Ross coming to power.” Ms Potts sighed.

 

“Let me guess; you were keeping more of an eye on the former Secretary McCord?” Dacia sharply asked.

 

“Yeah, but the woman has disappeared, so that whole power structure that we were comfortable working within, has vanished.  Unfortunately, we cannot be sure of which ways the hypothetical sands are laying, so we cannot be sure who we should reach out to.” FRIDAY’s lilting voice came across the tannoy startling the occupants of the room.

 

Dacia had to smirk; she was not sure if she would easily be able to hear the Tipperary accent again, she had chanced upon hearing the accent while the trio had been working in Ireland.  She had most of her attention turned to capturing Designation: Black Widow, but she still enjoyed listening to accents across the world.  The only thing that she could blame it on at this point was her old Jedi training raising its head, though she found that excuse to be rather lacklustre.  She was pretty sure that Mace had never had to deal with this problem.  So she did sometimes wonder why she had to deal with this problem.

 

Putting the notion out of her mind, she focussed and paid attention to the rest of the meeting.

 

“We might be able to help you further along in those aims, for one thing, we have managed to get an eye on the State Department, mostly through Jyn Erso’s natural curiosity raising its head.  Ms Hill, can you think of anyone who you can reach out, who might be able to get a lock on that footage?  I trust I do not need to over-emphasise how important it could be that we should not close off any books, not at this stage in the game.  Not while we are still close to the end, if we can make everything tie together with a pretty bow then I will be very happy, not least because we have accomplished all of our adjectives.” Dacia told the group, feeling like a magician as she raised her hand and shook them.

 

“I do have some, but I would be hesitant about reaching out to them.  It was not just SHIELD personnel that found their data leaked in Data Dump, some of the groups that I would normally say that we could reach out too, may not be receptive.  The groups at the top of my head?  They might still hold a grudge against us, no matter how intangible that link is, they would still see as being linked to the people that were responsible for leaking the data.  Do not presume to ask me why, when you can see that I was there, but perhaps because I was not the one calling the shots.  I have also been working here with Stark to ensure that any of our agents who we could rescue, were indeed rescued.  I felt like at the end of the day I at least owed them that, who knows what could have happened if I had simply raised my voice with them in that bunker?” Ms Hill told the group, her eyes closed as she still wrestled with some of her demons.

 

“Right now, we can not focus on that.  But we have been able to make some contact with some members of the British security service, at the moment though; it is a tentative connection.  They might have been able to help us with locating Designation: Black Widow, but we still like to triple and quadruple check anything that they say to us.  Simply because of some of the challenges that they have recently gone through as an agency, you have heard about some of that right?” Dacia sighed.

 

“Spectre?  Yeah, I heard about it, after the fact.  Sadly, I still have a lot of trusts to build upon that front, as paradoxical as it seems, it’s important to have people willing to trust that they can rely upon you and the veracity of any information.  The fact that I was called upon to testify in front of Congress, means that I do not have a lot of credibility on an international front.  Sure, they might not have known who I am, they might have heard whispers about who I am, but I was lucky to get out, and they know that.” Ms Hill sighed.

 

“Wait, what was that about Spectre?” Ms Potts asked confused.

 

“Spectre was an organisation that was like HYDRA, possibly an offshoot of the organisation, they have been a thorn in the side of MI6 since they were discovered after the Second World War.  So, far we have mostly been blighted by HYDRA, perhaps because while Spectre is more small scale, they have a great many criminals and morally questionable people in their back pocket.  So, far all I can tell is that the people who give people like Luke Cage, Daredevil and so on so much trouble have tenuous links to Spectre.” Vision coolly cut in explaining for Ms Hill.

 

“Right you are, but for now we need to make sure that the prisoners are ready to make the transfers?  Do you have any idea of where we can take them?” Dacia nodded slowly, already being aware of most of the information she was being told.

 

“The International Court is in The Netherlands, correct?  Friday reach out to the Everett Ross and see if we can leave them there.  You guys are right; it will not do any good if we choose to go after an immediate sense of revenge.  It is more important that we allow these people to taste the law and justice.  If we have to keep them on ice until it is time for us to wash our hands off them then so be it!” Ms Potts sounded a bit more sure of herself.

 

“Very well, I shall get into it immediately.  The good thing is that the guy does not know that I am simply an Artificial Intelligence rather than a person. Hopefully he will give me some straight answers that way.” Friday’s voice spoke, sounding upbeat instead of disheartened about what she was to get into doing.

 

“Do that, if you need any help go through the systems with Vision, two eyes are better than one in this case.” Ms Potts sound resolute with what she was about to say.

 

“I will work with Cassian and Jyn to make sure that our ship is ready to fly them there at a moment’s notice.  Is there anything else you would like to discuss before I leave?” Dacia asked.

 

“No, for now there

 

_WHOOSH_

Dacia made her way into the spaceship and sighed; she felt that meeting had proceeded exactly as she wished.  She had felt sure before she is walking into that meeting that it would only do her some good if Cassian were not there to distract.  She wondered if she could have achieved the same things if Cassian had been there and intent on jumping in and causing in a scene.

 

Suddenly stopping when she realised that the ‘ship was incredibly quiet, she wondered where both Cassian and Jyn were.  Changing her mind on a whim, she made her way down to the engineering nodule that she was so sure she would be able to find Cassian in.  At the very least she wanted to be able to explain to the man (and Jyn if she was there) what exactly had happened, what they could now expect to happen now.

 

Poking her head through the door to the small engineering room, Dacia smiled as she spotted both Cassian and Jyn.  She thought that at least that would make her whole job a little easier.  Now she knew that she would not have to hunt down the woman to tell them both together, it could be such a hassle to inform them both separately.

 

“So that meeting ended well, we have made some progress, but it means that we have extra jobs to do.  But I am more interested in how the repairs went on the spaceship, anything to report here?” Dacia chirpily asked.

 

“Yeah, we did not seem to have as large repairs as I feared.  Most a lot of little futtery tasks, we have managed to get through most of them.  The last few ones are the bigger sized ones, but we should be able to get through them.” Cassian sighed before being interrupted by a worried looking Jyn.

 

“Wait, will we need the spaceship ready to go?” Jyn exclaimed worriedly.

 

“Yeah, not yet but they will want us ready to take the prisoners to wherever they want them held.  I can understand them, because now more than ever we have to make sure that the rule of law is observed.  It would be a bad thing for them to decide that it would be better for them to work it even more towards their ends, with nothing but their self-interest guiding them.  It is nothing that we have not been through before, but for now, we have to make sure that we are kept on the right side of things.  It is important that we remember that for now, we are nothing more than observers, we do not want to bring _too much_ attention to ourselves, not when the end is in sight for us.” Dacia sighed.

 

“I should be able to have this spaceship ready to travel soon, but I would not hurry to make any form of long-distance travel.  It might take me some time to make sure that I have all the parts I need to ensure our safety.  But you have been mentioning that you have been getting the odd feeling again right?” Cassian told the woman.

 

Cassian had crossed his arms over her chest, considering Dacia, he wondered if there was anything else he should be trying.  For now, though, he knew that he was sick and tired of ‘MacGyvering’ parts for this rig.  He had already confessed to Jyn that he was not 100% sure that he could guarantee their safety.

 

Maybe though, he could count on whatever Dacia had heard, it might be able to give them enough time to recover the spaceship enough.

 

“Yeah, I can not put my finger on it, but something tells me that we are not as alone as we once thought we were,” Dacia muttered.

 

“Wait, alone?  Hun, I hate to break it to you, but there are other people here in this Universe.  Heck, there are people in the cells below, if that does not give you any indication of how not alone we are!” Jyn exclaimed.

 

“I do not think that is what she meant; I think she meant from our home Universe,” Cassian asked, eying Dacia speculatively.

 

“Yes, he has got it correct, I have had that feeling that someone is following us.  Or maybe they landed here.  Though, I can not be sure, so please do not take my words as gospel truth.” Dacia quietly warned the other two.

 

“That is not good; we are going to have to make sure that for now that we get this spaceship at least as ready as we can.  I do not need to point out how bad it could be if somebody should catch up with us, right?” Cassian sighed, taking the woman’s words at face value.

 

“Yeah, I struggled to work out how much time has passed in our Home Universe, but it could be a long period, we do not know their motives.” Dacia pointed out with a sigh.

 

“As Ms Lewis, has pointed out I have not been able to work out exactly who our enemies would be in the Home Universe and even what they stood for.  We are going to need to play it carefully.  Ms Lewis, I am happy to keep scanning, I might be able to find _something anything_ about who you may have picked up on.” K-2SO offered, his tone of voice not giving away any indication of whether or not he believed Dacia.

 

 

“Do that, in the meantime Jyn, can you make sure that the people in our spaceship are secure?  If we need to make a move, it would not be good if they were able to get loose, not at this point.” Dacia quietly asked.

 

Jyn looked over at the woman, carefully eyeing her up as she tried to make up her mind on what steps she should take next.  Biting at her lip again, her mind whirled through some of the different options that had opened up to her.  Closing her eyes briefly as she tried to conclude, in her mind’s eye she could a choice becoming apparent to her.

 

Nodding, as she opened her eyes, Jyn made her mind up and nodding more assuredly, she left the room.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Jyn lifted her hands and folded them together as she made her way through the spaceship, she felt as if she was shivering slightly from the cold.  She was well aware that she was not cold, but rather that her mind was running through some of the new ideas she had.  She had noticed previously, that when she began to have even more ideas, she would feel a phantom chill deep in her bones.

 

Grabbing one of the tablet computers on her way to the cells, Jyn began to tap through a few of the features, her eyes scanning through some of the features.  A small frown grew on her face when she noticed something on the screen that she did not necessarily like.  She only hoped that this would not mean that the prisoners had managed to escape, with luck on her side, nobody would have noticed the brief lapse in security.

 

Hurrying her footsteps up, Jyn made her way through the cells; she wondered what exactly had gone wrong, she wondered if it was a physical flaw in the system or something a bit more suspect to keep her on her toes.  Making her way to the door, she slowed her steps as she passed through the door, not wanting to alert the prisoners that there was anything wrong with her.  She was aware that the biggest tool in her arsenal was her ability to wear masks and hide what she was thinking.

 

Ignoring the people in the cells, she made her way over to the central computer nodule and began to go through a few of the features.  Cycling through the programs, she worked hard to keep a frown from her face, when she spotted a flaw in the code in front of her.  Bending over the keyboard, she took great care to make sure that she could freeze the bit of code.  Hurriedly writing a new line, Jyn made a quick decision that she would have to go back to the central computer nodule to ensure that there was no way for this bit of code to be exploited.  She also felt a faint stirring of confusion deep in her belly when she realised that the small line of code, looked in no way familiar to her, she would have to make sure that she could track down the source.

 

If they were in any way vulnerable to outside attack, she felt that now she would have to check and made sure that they were impervious.  She felt a faint stirring of nerves in her gut as she wondered to herself what exactly could attack them.  She wondered to herself how likely it was that they could be attacked by anyone of this Universe.

 

It was not ego for her to feel confident in their abilities enough to know that it was not likely for someone here to be able to track them down and covertly gain access to their systems.  Jyn had to wonder who it was likely to be; she had not come across anyone **_here_** that had those particular capabilities.

 

Jyn wondered if this had anything to do with Dacia’s growing gut feeling.  She felt a growing sense of unease that it was connected somehow.  For now, though, she would have to tremendously careful that the flaw was fixed.

 

Without saying another word, Jyn sighed and left the room, wanting to find the source of this bug before it became too late for her to do anything.  She was aware that _if_ it was someone she recognised from her home, then it might be exceedingly difficult for her to break it.

 

It was normally at times like this when she tried to remember that it was always a good thing for her to approach problems from the beginning.  She thought that maybe her Dad had once pointed out that at least this way, she might be able to find a solution.

 

Wanda who had been watching all of this with a close eye on the woman wondered if it was something that she could exploit.  In any case, she was sure that for now at least that there was something about to happen.  She had noticed that whatever they had been held on had slowed down dramatically to a complete halt.  She wondered what was likely to happen at this next juncture.  She could hope that whatever it meant would not cause further pain for either her or her friends.  If she even deigned to count these people as her friends, except the Winter Soldier, she would withhold that from these people.  She found herself slightly disappointed to realise that whatever mask the Winter Soldier was hiding behind was incredibly disappointing and weak.

 

She would always be the only one truly committed to her HYDRA puppeteers goals.

 

Somethings never changed for her.

 

Did she question whether or not she always had to be the one to do everything?

 

You bet your ass she did

 

The last guy that she had thought she could rely upon had stupidly sacrificed his life for these people.

 

Wanda was only able to comfort herself with thoughts of how you could never trust a man to do a woman’s job.  She would have been just fine to get these people’s trust if her brother had not so stupidly sacrificed himself for one of Stark’s cronies.

 

Though at least she had been able to cry about how that monster had cost her all of her family and her homeland.

 

Last she had heard though was that Sokovia still stood, she was just persona non-grata there.

 

As if she needed those pathetic peasants, not when she was the one to bring Stark to his knees!


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassian gets frustrated, Dacia makes a silly mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never been so glad to let go of a chapter, this one was completely kicking my arse. Don't forget to Kudos or Comment, I'm going to stick on a movie for tonight. Think I might watch The Pelican Brief, the book when I read it years ago was brilliant

Cassian sighed and took a step away from the engineering nodule, swinging away from the table as he looked over the small piece of tech that he had been working over.  With a grumble, he started to mutter about how some tasks could sneak up on you with you noticing.  He wished that he had been able to spot that this task might have taken him longer when he was about to start it.  Realising that it would be fruitless for him to blame K-2SO for his oversight, he rolled out his shoulders once again before starting back in.

 

After a few hours, squinting at the small motherboard in front of him, he wondered at what point it had started to blur in front of him.  Taking a step back from the tabletop with a loud sigh, he thought to himself that it was now time for him to call it a night.  He was not likely to get through much more work before he collapsed due to exhaustion.  Attempting to stifle a large yawn, Cassian shook his head once again, trying to clear some of the cobwebs from his mind.  Giving it up as a bad job when he realised that he would not be of as much help for the rest of the night as he would like, he made sure to save all of his work and left the room carefully.

 

As he made his way back to his room, Cassian sighed and began to wonder what exactly had happened to him to make him think that it was not particularly likely that he should over-estimate his abilities.  Cassian found himself wondering when the last time he had gotten a good night’s sleep.  With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he realised that he could not easily recall.  Grumbling to himself again, he muttered crossly to himself that he could not easily expect himself to be able to operate on little sleep.

 

When he reached his room, Cassian collapsed into the all too often empty bed and closed his eyes.  He only hoped that he was ready to fall asleep, he knew how difficult it could be to sleep when his mind was whirring through some of his thoughts and business he had been attempting to conducting over the past few days.  Thankfully, it did not seem as if it was about to take him much longer; he fell asleep fairly quickly, either that, or he was more tired than he had originally suspected.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spaceship, Dacia was standing in the central computer nodule tapping at the keyboard.  She was frowning as she tried to remember what had happened at the multiple meetings she had attended with Potts’, Hill et al.  Shaking her head once again as she struggled to pick out some of the finer details, and separate out when deals had been struck.  This always happened to her, she thought that she was fine, and usually, she was, but when it came to her parsing out some of the finer details.

 

Her fingers sped up slightly quicker, as she suddenly remembered some of the things that had been niggling at her, she remembered some more of the details that until now the finer details had escaped her.  She had never found it easy to parse out and separate details from dozens of meetings that had begun to blur together in her mind.  She wondered if there was anything she could do to improve her memory, maybe she should look into some mental exercises she should practise improving.

 

Sighing when she realised that it was not going to help her now, she closed her eyes and tried to force herself to remember that there were still some positives for her now.  Namely that she had been able to force through a greater connection to the Force, small as it might be it was still something for her to cherish.  She briefly smiled a smug grin when she wondered whether it was a sign of things looking up for her.  It still made her chuckle when she wondered what she ever would have done if someone had ever thought to bring her attention to the fact that her burgeoning dependence on the Force would be a bad thing.  To be fair though, she did not imagine that she would ever be forced away from the Force for any length of time, it was not something that she could have foreseen at any time in her past.

 

Noticing Jyn begin to look, Dacia made sure to stifle the grin, not wanting to face questions from her friend as she continued to revel in the feelings of find something that she had been looking for a long time.  She was aware that there were still some things that Jyn had found a reason to be worried about, she did not want to rub her joy in her friend’s face.  It might have happened a few weeks ago, but Jyn still felt the small fluttering of relief in her chest, everytime she successfully reached out to the Force.  Acknowledging that it was still a small amount of that life-affirming Force, she still found it interesting to consider that her grasp was growing bit by bit each day.  At some point, she hoped that she would be ready to use the Force offensively and defensively.

 

Dacia hoped that the small fact that she was able to feel the Force was not indicative of someone with hostile intent coming to cause them some pain.  She was well aware that it could be incredibly difficult now if she were expected to fight as she once had, especially because she was not used to using her skills in that manner.  She knew at this point that both Jyn and (to a lesser extent) Cassian had been working on getting their bodies ready to start fighting again.

 

Unfortunately, they would probably need it if the way Dacia could feel her stomach drop into her boots at the time was any indication.

 

Jyn looked over at her friend and rolled her eyes; she was well aware that Dacia was more than likely thinking of the Force and her ability to reconnect with it.  She knew that it was a good thing that the woman was able to reconnect with the Force, but she shared Dacia’s concerns that it could whisper of something big and bad was coming for them.  Jyn had heard whispers that there was something bigger on the horizon for the people of this Universe.  She had read further into some of Dr Stark’s warnings, and she had only felt that they had rung true.

 

She had been running for her life for long enough to know that it was not likely (if ever) to be a day when she could count on being able to rest.  It might be intense paranoia, but Jyn was firm of the mind that if it kept her alive for a little while longer, then there was nothing negative about paranoia.  As Moody was fond of saying ‘it’s not paranoia if they are out to get you’, she found from experience that she could not easily disagree.

 

It might not be the life that her parents were looking for in regards to their only daughter, but as they were fond of pointing out in this universe; shit happens.  Jyn would never be comfortable enough to sit and take it easy, but at least she had learned enough to be able to count on herself in times of stress.  Jyn might not completely agree with all of the hard-won lessons that are growing up under the firm tutelage of Saw Guerra, but at least not she knew that she could count on herself and her instincts.  He had taught her to listen to those murmurings in the back of her mind, and act upon them.  They rarely (if ever) had steered her cataclysmically wrong.

 

Shaking her head at the woman, Jyn focussed her attention back on the screen in front of her; she was attempting to compile a report of all the things they had picked that they had managed to learn in the short space of time.  Jyn knew that her actions might not make a lot of sense, but she knew that it was something she had long since practised.  She had been firm of the opinion that it helped her to write things out because it would sometimes help her see the patterns that she had been missing, it could be a bit of a crapshoot whether or not it worked.

 

The two of them had gotten so lost it peering at the individual screens in front of them that they did not notice the passage of time.  After a few hours, Jyn ended up turning away from the screen with a small groan.  She realised a little too late that she had been staring with too much intensity at the screen in front of her, certainly when she realised how stiff her joints had become during her study.  Rolling her shoulders, she groaned when she thought she could detect the sounds of clicking and creaking coming from her joints.

 

Looking over at Dacia, she realised that the woman had long since left the tiny room behind.  Thinking to herself, she wondered at what point her friend had left her behind; she wondered whether or not it would be in bad taste for her to smirk.  She had wondered when Dacia had decided that it would be the better part of valour for her to get a good night’s sleep.  Jyn had long since recognised that her friend could cherish sleep over all else when it came to it, the only time that Jyn could remember seeing her friend not putting sleep first had not been pretty.

 

Jyn still shuddered to remember what Dacia had been like when she was going through university.  She wondered how many college students had a proclivity to turn into raging homicidal monsters, because it could not just be Dacia, right?  Jyn was not even in the mood to think about the number of people that were going in and shooting up schools; she did not even think that she had _that_ amount of energy to burn through.

 

Sighing, she decided that for now at least it would make more sense for her to go to bed.  After all, if it was not good enough for Dacia, it was good enough for her.  Stifling a yawn behind her hand, Jyn flicked the computer she was standing at into sleep mode and left the room.  It was time for her to get a good nights’ sleep, maybe she would see even more patterns with a good nights’ rest under her belt.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia sighed and straightened out her limbs; she felt like now she would be able to perform more tasks successfully.  It would not be incredibly earth-shattering for her to admit that if she did not get a good night’s sleep consistently, then she could become a bit of an angry bear.  She still remembered some of the eye rolls she attracted from both Cassian and Jyn when finals had rolled around when she was going through Culver.  Making her way through the corridors and back into the central control nodule, Dacia prepared to carry out more of her duties.  Knowing that until Jyn got up in a few hours time, she would no doubt have the central computer nodule to herself unless Cassian came up to join her.

 

It would seem like she would not be destined to get a lot of time to herself, at least not she thought when Cassian followed her in not long after.  She looked over at the man, sighing when she saw that the man had on a face like thunder.  A good nights’ sleep could not cure all ills!

 

“What is wrong Cassian?” Dacia heard herself asking.

 

“The repair work I was doing?  You know that I said that a part of it looked as if it was taking me longer than I had anticipated.  I also got it into my head that I could take work on some of the other stuff, that had annoyed me, some of the stuff that did not seem as urgent.  I am glad though that I was able to look at some of the stuff because it turned out to be more urgent that I had initially thought, I am glad that I was able to get it done.” Cassian started to ramble.

 

“Okay, whoa breathe, have you got any more of it sorted out now?” Dacia cut in with a smirk.

 

“Yeah, for now, we should be good, but there were some things that I wanted to take a closer look at.  As I said, I am glad that I did, some of it was more urgent than I had initially thought.  Some of it has me spooked, and I would not risk undertaking any tales of derring-do.  Heck screw that, I would not even risk a simple little milk run in this rig while it is not completely up to scratch.” Cassian tried to prevaricate.

 

“Okay, that is fine, will it be ready soon?” Dacia asked with a frown.

 

“It should be, but I am sure that I am reasonably near the end of it, or at least closer than I had been before.  I will need some extra time to finalise the fabrication process, but for now, I have got it to a point where I can be confident we are not going to go out in a great big blaze of glory.” Cassian muttered.

 

“Okay, that is good, we will need to get the prisoners away soon, do you think that the spaceship will be able to handle it?  Can we work with the best of what we have or do we still have more to worry about?” Dacia nodded.

 

“Give me a couple of weeks; I do not want to travel anyway until I can know for damn sure that it is completely safe for us.  My best conservative guess though?  It could take me anywhere between two weeks and a month, but it could take us a lot longer, at the moment I am working with what I have.  If I still access some of the things from our home Universe, then it could go by a lot quicker.” Dacia reminded the woman.

 

“If wishes were kisses though right?  I am guessing that it does not help matters that you have to work with the best of what we can salvage here.  Any work you can do here, I am guessing is not going to be completely up to scratch.  Look, do not let it get to you, because I know that we are asking so much of you, but I know that you will be able to do it okay?  I know that you do not like the smaltzy talk, but both Jyn and I?  We trust in you, to do the best damn work that you can with all that you have to hand, you always do.” Dacia smiled, lightly telling the man.

 

Dacia watched as the man nodded as if he was not sure what the woman was attempting to get towards.  She smiled gently at the man, knowing that whatever thoughts that the man was facing, it would be better for them all.  Dacia took a small drink of the water at her side, while she watched the man tried to make up his mind about how he wanted to approach Dacia’s words.  She knew that Cassian lost himself in his head from time to time, but she also knew that it was simply better to let the man work things out on his own, under his own steam.

 

Strange but sometimes Cassian in a bad mood could easily suck any good mood out of the immediate atmosphere.  It could get so tiring to deal with, and Dacia honestly did not think that she had any energy to deal with _that_ particular minefield today.  If she had to remain quiet watching the man until he concluded his thoughts, then so be it, would it not be the better part of valour if she allowed the man the time and space to explore his thoughts.

 

He had also had problems with his self-esteem, to the point where it could worry Dacia from time to time.  She still found it to be surprising that the man did not see his strengths, sure he might have improved, but Dacia was still not at a point when she felt like she could be confident in the man’s sense of self.  She might not fully understand why the man did not believe himself to be as brilliant as his friends told him, but it was something to work on.  Goodness knows that both Dacia _and_ Jyn had resolved to work with the man to improve his self-esteem, it was slow to yield any fruit, but that only meant it was all the sweeter.

 

“Right now, you can heap all the praise on me that you want, but it is not going to make it easier for me to work through some of the things that I feel I need to focus on.  For now, I feel like you need to remember that I am doing all I can, please do not hurry me along, not while I am still trying to focus.  I need to work out how I can get some of the parts that I need before I can get distracted by whatever scheme you two have worked up.” Cassian chided, a faint blush showing across his chest.

 

Dacia lifted the mug of water to her face, hoping to hide the small smirk she was so sure was currently sitting there.  It might be a combination of mildly amusing and slightly upsetting to her that she could still frazzle Cassian.  She knew that with the help of Jyn the two of them would have to work even harder to make the man more open to see his strengths.  It would probably worry Dacia every more if she did not think that the man had a grasp on his weaknesses or at least a better grasp of his self-esteem issues than he had.

 

Lowering the mug again when she was sure that she had her amusement firmly pushed below the surface.  Dacia looked over at the man, attempting to get his emotions back under his control, she thought that it might seem ridiculous that the man fell back into old habits when he became stressed or tired.  Dacia wondered if it was possible that the man had not filled up the growing gulf that was his sleeping deficit.  Again, she considered that it was not always simply one night’s sleep that could work wonders but rather a series of them.

 

Shaking her head out once again, she peered at the man and wondered what point she should begin to attack next.  Sighing, when she realised that there were too many things that she could reasonably begin to focus on, she opted to start with a simple one.

 

“Okay, I do not want to put you under more pressure than I have any right to, know that both Jyn and I trust you to do the best damn work you can.  Is there anything I can do to help you?”

 

“Not, yet, if you can keep looking for whatever it was that piqued your interest, the Force thing I mean.  I do not need to point out how much I want to avoid being taken by surprise.  For, now I do not think that we are ready, on a personal level at least to run a mission against people who have similar if not identical abilities to us any time soon.  I fear that we may have softened in our training, sure it became a little awkward to deal with the likes of Designation: Black Widow or Designation: (Former) Captain America and Designation: Winter Soldier.  The rest of them might have just been coming back from a sedative and therefore could not pose as much a challenge, what I am trying to say is that I fear we may have taken that for granted.  When we took it for granted, we let our training slowly begin to slacken, because we had all of the beneficial elements and we did not have to work on improving those muscles.” Cassian started before turning away embarrassed by his words.

 

“You are unusually verbose today, but what can we do?  We can not simply launch ourselves back into full fighting ability; something tells me _that_ would not end well.” Dacia teased with a smile.

 

“As you said we might not be able to immediately launch ourselves back into how we used to train, to use an analogy you can not immediately go from back surgery to weightlifting in the Olympic Games.  Just as we can not expect to be able to have those skills still ready to be used as strong as they once were.  We should continue to work our way up to being able to use those skills.” Cassian shrugged.

 

Dacia nodded briefly at the man, before looking back at the computer screen in front of her and taping through a few more of the features.  Frowning at the screen in front of her, Dacia continued to look through a few more of the words in front of her.  Shaking her head, she wondered what was going through her head last night when she was typing.  Some of these words were to put it delicately gobbledygook when she had even used proper language, but in others, she looked like she had used a combination of differing languages.  To make it even more confusing, she had not simply conformed to one set of grammatical rules, but rather for every language she had followed another set of grammatical rules.

 

She sighed, thinking that it was going to be a massive headache for her to untangle and for now, it looked like she would have time to untangle the mess.  Dacia snorted to herself as she wondered whether there were would ever be a good time for her to work when she was exhausted.

 

Judging by a massive headache that she had created for herself, she was going to say that there never would be.  Dacia tried to recall what it was about her life as a student that had made this work possible?  Was it the massive amounts of coffee and other stimulants she had imbibed during her college days?  She suspects that it was and for not she did not want to get into the middle of that coffee haze again, it did funny things to her sleeping schedule that she did not want to revisit.  Goodness only knew how long it had taken Dacia to wean herself back into a proper sleeping schedule.

 

“Eugh, this was such a mess, I think I have used a few different languages and grammar layered into one confusing document.  This is going to take me hours if not days to untangle.” Dacia muttered, running a hand through her hair.

 

“That is typical, do you think that you will be able to sort it on your own?” Jyn laughed, having sauntered into the room.

 

Dacia looked over at the woman and noted that it looked as if she was clutching a coffee cup, she smiled at the woman thinking of how difficult Jyn found it function without at least one bitter cup in the morning.  The good thing was that Jyn was not yet addicted to the caffeinated gods, she rather strictly cut herself off after two cups.  Jyn had confided in her friend that she in no way wanted to become beholden to a beverage.

 

“Yeah, it might take me a while to get it untangled, I am not sure if I would be better simply starting from the beginning.  It might take me too long otherwise.” Dacia muttered frowning at the screen in front of her.

 

“Alright, go up to the library, there at least you will be surrounded by dictionaries and translation books and scrolls of languages that do not simply come from here.  I will up in an hour to see if I can do anything to help you out.  Is that okay?” Jyn checked, taking a delicate sip from her coffee mug as she spoke.

 

“Yeah, I will head up there now, I do not know to describe it to you, but I want to get this done.  If nothing else, it might help me a bit better with my linguistic skills.” Dacia sighed, before waving off her friends’ obvious concern and leaving the room behind.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia looked over some of the scrolls that she had pulled down and sighed to herself, as she wondered (yet again) what she had gotten herself involved with.  She was impressed that she had not managed to stuff up any individual languages and to bar the tiny, little grammatical errors, the account could make a lot of sense.  As she dug further into it though, she wondered why some of the threads did not seem to make a lot of sense.

 

Raising an eyebrow briefly, when she marvelled that at one stage she had begun to write a shopping list in both Irish and Italian.  It was mostly for things like milk and bread along with ice cream and tampons and a note in Irish for chocolate, which was interesting.  Those were things that they needed; she decided that at the earliest opportunity she should pick up said groceries.  It was better for her to wait until she was not as hungry, the stupidest thing that she could do when hungry was go grocery shopping.  More often than not she ended up picking up items that she genuinely did not need, to fill a hole in her stomach that he subconsciously expected always to be there.

 

Chucking her pen away from her in disgust, Dacia decided to attack another section, hoping that sooner or later she would come across something that made sense.  She figured that she needed some more context to try and unravel some more of the words she had previously typed in.  Dacia found herself amused at her actions, she did not want to be amused, not in the slightest, but she found that she did not have the energy to start laughing.

 

If she were to start laughing, it would probably be the maniacal kind of laughter that would be indicative of her being a supervillain.  If nothing else, Dacia wanted to avoid _that particular_ downfall; she would never hear the end of it from either Cassian or Jyn.  The three of them were close enough to wind each other up if they started to slip up at any point.

 

Clambering to her feet, Dacia wondered if it was at all likely that a short stretch of her limbs would result in her being able to think of and see new concepts.  Dacia could recognise that it was not as if the work was exceptionally difficult, just that it was more time consuming and seemed never-ending.  She knew that in any other case she would not cause so much of a stink about the issue being so time-consuming, now that she knew that she needed to get this recorded quickly, she was firing on all cylinders.

 

Leaving the small library nook behind her, she needed to go to the toilet; she could always use the opportunity to stretch her legs.  Dacia thought that usually any amount of exercise could shake a few ideas loose.  It had worked for her in the past, and hopefully, now it would work again.  Making her way to the living quarters, Dacia slipped into her bedroom and slipped into the small bathroom.

 

It was times like this when she was unbelievably glad that they had thought to put in separate bathrooms.  Goodness knows, how easily Cassian could find it ‘to destroy a toilet’, quite frankly it was easier to let him deal with the stink rather than allowing both Jyn and Dacia to deal with the aftermath.

 

They might love the guy, but goodness knows how much Cassian loved his stinky goat's cheeses.

 

The girls both felt as if some lines really should not cross.  Not if they wanted to remain friends.  Which they did, just that sometimes they felt as if they knew too much about their friend’s bowel movements.

 

Once Dacia had emptied her bowels and was making her way back to the library nook, she felt as if ideas had been shaken loose.  Hopefully, now she would be able to get on with her work and speed up the translation work.

 

Sitting at the desk again, she leaned forward and grabbed a pen again and started to chew her lips again as she read through the papers again.  Looking through the file, she thanked her earlier thoughts for making her separate out the paragraphs in front of her.  Leaning over the desk, Dacia hummed to herself as she began to untangle the threads that were directly in front of her.  She looked over the notes in front of her and smiled as the words began to make some semblance of sense to her.

 

The words were finally starting to make some sense; it would seem that Dacia had been right, things did look as if they were about to begin making sense, maybe a good poop could make everything make sense again!  Even if she was attempting to unravel something that she had messed up in the first place.

 

Letting out a small smile, the woman felt a feeling like satisfaction curling low in her belly.  Not one due to carnal actions, but when she was able to make sense of some of the things she was learning.  Quite frankly that had been more instances of languages than she would have expected to be able to use.


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to get moving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Hope you had a good week, the nice weather has broken (though thank goodness, I was a bit fearful that the bonfires of the eleventh would get out of hand if it was as dry as it has been). Having said that though, it was bad, there was more violence than in previous years. Sometimes I really hate living in Northern Ireland.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter and comment if you enjoy it. I'm sort of losing interest in this story, oh well only four chapters left.

Dacia sighed and pushed the chair away from beneath her; she did not want to think about what could happen if she did not play her part to perfection.  Now that she had adequately translated the document, and still felt a bit of amazement surging through her body at the sheer amount of languages she comprehended.  Dacia found herself wondering if she had always been so much of a linguist, she noted to herself that she could not seem to forget them!  Normally, when Dacia knew that she had a few months of inactivity coming up, she liked to try to pick up a new language or hobby.

 

For now, Dacia would not be able to relax, because the end was in sight.  If she simply played her part, this whole thing might go by quicker than it normally would.  She idly thought to herself that she was interested in picking up a hobby like brush-lettering.  While she was able to letter some of the things from her home Universe properly, she had had to given that she had sometimes worked as an archivist.  The basic alphabet was different enough that Dacia occasionally struggled with making a complete switch when she was making notes to herself.

 

Having glanced through a few of the notes that she had made to herself, she noted with a sense of amusement that she invariably took notes in her mother tongue.  It could lead to some points of disconnect because some points did not adequately translate over (from either language) and she had to occasionally rely on the huge dictionaries that she had either bought or compiled.  Cracking her fingers, she looked at some of the notes that she had tried to make in English and felt a small amount of frustration rise in her when she thought that it looked like a spider had wandered into ink and had something similar to an epileptic fit or sugar high.

 

Shaking her head and deciding that her time would be better served if she simply got back down to work.  Which to do so she would have to make her way back through to the central computer nodule.  She could only hope that for now, they would be able to work, even if now she did not have any clear guidance on what her job should be.  Dacia found that she was not completely clear on what Ms Potts, Ms Hill or Lieutenant Rhodes should want her to do next.

 

It might be frustrating for her to feel like she was in a holding pattern, she was not sure whether or not she was coming or going.  For now, though, Dacia could resolve all she wanted that she was going to continue doing her work.  She did not want to be the person to hold behind any efforts that they were about to undertake.  Especially if it came out that any of those holdups were simply due to her pride.  It was with a surprise that she noticed her tablet beep at her.  Faltering in her steps, Dacia pulled to a stop in the silver corridor and pulled her glass tablet out.

 

Cycling through a few of the features on the tablet, Dacia opened the email function out and felt a frown cross her face as she read through the email.  It would do her no good to miss a word, not when she saw what the email proposed.

 

 **TO:** Lewis, Darcy (Dacia)

 

 **FROM:** Hill, M., Potts, V.

 

 **CC:** Erso, J., Andor, C, Rhodes, J., Vision, Stark, A.

 

_We have been going some of the earlier emails, and we believe that it is indeed time to begin moving the rest of the Avengers that we earlier transferred to our Compound.  We discussed taking them through the justice system.  As I am sure you are no doubt aware, the United States is not currently a signatory to the International Criminal Court._

_While under President Obama the United States agreed to formally recognise any of the rulings that the International above Criminal Court handed down, but it operated more as an observer.  Because the crimes committed by the Rogue Avengers took place in Hungary and Germany, we must try them in a court where everyone will get their justice._

_When we talk about everyone having the possibility to get some justice, we are not just talking about the government of Germany, Romania but also Nigeria and earlier Sokovia.  For too long the so-called Avengers felt comfortable to act in an international capacity, and when they had the benefit of Stark Industries at their back, they did not have to face any calls for justice.  Now that we have managed to distance ourselves from the parasitic group, we feel that now is the perfect time for them to learn how much of a headache they could cause._

 

_In case you are wondering, there is no Advil in the world strong enough to completely cure anyone who is forced to take responsibility for their actions.  We take into account how important it is for us to disabuse them of these erroneous thoughts, we have read through the transcripts to the interviews and are pleased to note that you have talked with them about their actions that led to this Civil War nonsense._

 

_If they haven’t yet had access to reading the Accords documents, could you provide it?  It would be interesting to note whether or not they begin to change their tune when they read through the document and understand that they were not fighting for what they thought they were fighting for.  We understand that some of the language used in the document in heavy and dense making it difficult to understand, but if you could work with them to understand these documents.  Large portions of the Accords may have been either struck down or amended, but it would be interesting to take in the former Avengers’ reaction if they began to understand what they gave up their freedom for._

 

_Could you bring them over to The Hague today?  We have been in touch with officials there, and they have agreed at this point that they are ready and willing to take custody of the former Avengers.  We have of course been liaising with them to ensure that they have adequate security measures in places, to stop Maximodd if she should decide that she gets bored and wants to test the limits of her captors by staging an attempted break-out.  By the time you arrive in the Netherlands, there should be measures in place to ensure that everyone is kept as safe as possible until this matter has been handled._

_I want to apologise for the sudden movement of our timeframe, but things have been shifting here, and we do not want to caught unawares.  Keep us in the loop of whatever should happen; we have to ensure that on the home front we can present a united front, no matter what happens, it is very important that we should not be caught flat-footed.  There are going to be people who use our words and Dr Starks’ incredibly detailed history against us.  As long as we do not announce anything patently erroneous, we should be fine.  It is important to note that we would be happy if we announced something that later turned out to be false._

 

Dacia groaned when she realised the magnitude of work that now awaited her, though she did think ruefully to herself that now they had something to work towards.  She usually found that when she faltered in her work, once she something to work towards, then she found it easier.  It was probably something to do with morale or some such rot, because what else could explain why Dacia found it so much easier if she had something to work towards?

 

Shrugging as she continued through the spaceship, wanting to talk to Jyn before she tried to Cassian.  The woman might have some ideas on how they should deal with their mercurial friend.  At the very least Jyn should be made aware that they were making a transfer today.  Dacia was well aware that for now, she would need all hands on deck, especially if they were to get through this part, with no major injuries to report.  As she made her way through the spaceship, she reflected that the next part had the potential of getting hairy.  Dacia had no interest in leading her friends on a dangerous mission.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Entering into the room, she looked over at a harried-looking Jyn, raising an eyebrow when she noticed that it looked as the woman was blowing on a steaming mug.  Normally, Jyn did not bother to drink more than two or three mugs of coffee, Dacia was not sure if there was even any hot chocolate left, and she knew that Jyn did not like to drink hot chocolate in the morning.  She found that she valued her continued safety too much to bring up the caffeine issue.  With a shudder, she remembered what had happened last time Cassian had thought it would be a stellar idea to make fun of the woman for her dependence on caffeine.  Dacia could be accused of being slightly crazy, but she was not suicidal by any means, there was still so much that she wanted to live for before she entered into the possibility of teasing the woman about her (harmless) addiction.

 

Dacia had been treated to enough lectures from the woman about how she would only drink hot chocolate in the evening.  All she knew was that while she might agree with the sentiment behind the woman’s words, she could not understand why the woman was so heated about the drink.  Shrugging to herself while she tried to remember that the woman likely had a good reason for her actions, but Jyn could get intense at times!  It was best to simply get out of the woman’s way when she started to get on, not unless you wanted to have your face chewed off!

 

“What is wrong Jyn?  You have a face like a slapped arse, did something else happen to you guys?” Dacia asked nervously, mentally preparing herself for what could be a very hard day.

 

“There is yet more repair work to carry out.  At least Cassian seems more stressed when I wandered into the engineering room this morning.  It seems like we might have even more work to do when it comes to this spaceship.  We might need to put all hands on deck to solve this issue for him, at the very least if we want to make a getaway in a hurry.  The thing is though, we, and here I am talking about the two of us, need to understand more about what is going on with the spaceship.” Jyn sighed.

 

“Right now that is not the most important issue we have to deal with.  Ms Potts and Ms Hill emailed, they want us to take the prisoners off their hands and take them to face justice.  It is interesting to note that they are aware that most of the Avengers are either feigning ignorance or were outright unaware that due to the work of Dr Stark and Ms Hill, they were able to get away with so much destruction.  If they are still more interested in pleading ignorance, this will be a massive wake up call.  Ms Potts for one does not plan on supplying them with lawyers.” Dacia told the woman.

 

“Okay, that is something that we can deal with easily enough.  First, though, we are going to have to make sure that Cassian is ready to move.  Would you like to do this together?  If we both go down there, he might recognise that we need to move.  He has not mentioned anything to me, about the current state of the spaceship.  Any ideas?” Jyn dully asked.

 

“No, at the moment I am simply hoping that if we both turn up down there, he might see that we need to make a move now.  If we tell him that they have been in touch with us, I do not imagine that he will delay matters.  He wants to be as free of this matter as we do.” Dacia denied.

 

Shaking her head and leading Jyn from the room, Dacia thought to herself about what she was likely to say to Cassian.  She was hopeful that the man would understand that they needed to make a move quickly, especially if he wanted to be free of the Avengers like she suspected.

 

Dacia wondered briefly to herself when her life had become this difficult.  She had been more used to spending time in various libraries, or in the shadows in her Home Universe.  She would lay a curse on the Empire, heck she had.  A pox on Emperor Palpatine, she thought ruefully to herself.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Making their way through the corridors to the small engineering room, Jyn looked over at her friend and wondered (not for the first time nor for the last time) exactly what had happened.  She quietly worried that the three of them would not get out of this mess together.  Jyn could recognise that her life had turned into a very strange caricature since she had witnessed the death of her Mama.  It had turned even stranger since she had opted to openly rebel and tied her luck and fortunes with Cassian.  Then it had gotten even more bizarre when she had escaped to this Universe with the aid of Dacia along with Cassian.

 

Jyn had never before been lucky (or unlucky depending on how you looked at it) to meet a Jedi.  There were whispers that there were still a few left after the Empire had finally revealed themselves.  Jyn had resolutely never believed in the whispers; she had always been too concerned with keeping _herself_ alive and hidden to pay attention to the small burgeoning sense of hope in her chest.  It had been difficult at times for Jyn to keep herself alive and away from the clutches of the Empire, it would be doubly difficult if she had to worry about being blinkered by hope.  She was well aware that hope could be ruthlessly stamped out, she had told herself that unless she came across concrete, irrefutable evidence that there were still Jedi, she would ignore the thoughts.  Yes, it was nice to believe in fairy tales, but they did her no good, especially when she needed to worry about avoiding creeps and stooges for the various enemies she had made in her short life.

 

She had always had even bigger things to concern herself with.

 

Without wasting time by even glancing at one another before they walked into the engineering nook, Dacia was greeted by a strange looking sight.  Cassian was perched, bent over one of the formally gleaming lab tables; it was now splattered with what looked like a mixture of oil and grease, along with some unidentifiable substances.  He was stood with a small blowtorch, looking for all the world like he was carefully fusing together pieces.  She might not easily be able to see what had captured the man’s singular focus, but she could guess that it was something that Cassian found to be crucial to whatever they were supposed to be doing.  It would not be like Cassian if he were playing around with parts for the fun of it, Dacia honestly thought that she might not be able to stand the surprise if the man suddenly surprised her.

 

Not wanting to take the time to inspect further what the man was looking at, she could recognise that they did not have a lot of time to waste, she gently cleared her throat.  She had been treated to enough lectures to know how stupid it could be if she were to startle a man suddenly.  Especially a man who was operating a blowtorch, not just that but the fact that he could be working with hazardous items.

 

Cassian did not have on a great deal of safety gear, but Dacia was not a betting woman.  The only thing that she knew for certain was that sometimes it seemed like if there were something that could go wrong, then it inevitably would go wrong for her.  It was a heavy thing to be so much of a pessimist at times, even if Dacia protested that she was simply realistic.

 

“What’s the news Cassian?  Are you any further on?” Dacia asked when the man nodded at them, ready to show that they could indeed begin speaking.

 

“Yeah, I have managed to get through a few of the more persistent problems, I do not foresee this as an issue that will last longer.  It might take a while longer to find and fabricate some more of the parts that I will need.  Until I can fabricate these parts, we should be alright, but never mind that, what is on the agenda for today?” Cassian groaned.

 

“Okay, that is good, for now, we are going to need to find a way to work towards taking them to The Hague.  Are we ready to get this show on the road?  I got an email from Ms Potts and Ms Potts not long ago that they are ready for the Avengers to be taken off their hands.” Dacia explained to the pair, knowing that for now, she was also explaining to Jyn what was about to happen.

 

“Yeah, that should be fine, the ship is ready to travel now.  I suspect that now I am simply fussing around for the sake of fussing around.  Otherwise, some of this work is not as urgent as I thought it would be, we can start moving.  Unless, we are about to try jumping from this Universe to our home, in which case I would highly recommend caution in that scenario.” Cassian sighed.

 

Cassian picked up a small dirty rag and transferred it from one hand to the other while he was speaking.  It looked as if the man was simply getting his hands dirty, while he tried to ruminate further on what the spaceship would need.  Cassian knew that he always did this, precisely when he started to think through things he needed something to fiddle with in his hands.  It was something he had picked up a long time ago when he felt the need to think through a particularly vexing problem.  It might seem odd, but Cassian could swear blind that it worked for him and what was the point in giving up on a habit that worked?

 

Dacia nodded her head slowly; she was attempting to make up her mind before she started to speak, and made up her mind before speaking;

 

“Okay, Jyn make sure that before we bring the prisoners back onto this spaceship, you check whether or not you want them sedated.  If you do, sedate them before you have to move and for the love of Yoda make sure they are sedated before you move them.  Cassian if you have reached a natural stopping point, then help her.  In the meantime, I will help, but I want all hands on deck here, so we can be sure that this scenario is going to play out as calmly and peacefully as possible.” Dacia instructed the other two before nodding her head.

 

Cassian peered at Dacia for a long moment before bending back over his desk and continuing to solder some more wires.  Jyn exchanged a brief look with a frustrated looking Dacia and tried to send the woman a look of surrender through her eyes.  Jyn was not able to find herself completely comfortable with whatever Cassian was trying to do, but the only thing that she only knew herself to be certain off was that for now, they did not have the time to play softly softly approach.  Not now, not when others were expecting them to make a sudden move.

 

Jyn decided that she was not likely to get much more sense out of the man, so she made her way from the room.  Deciding to herself that she would be better ensuring that she had ready access to a few of the sedatives, she directed her footsteps towards the small hospital wing.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Whistling cheerfully to herself, Jyn made her way into the small hospital wing and without even pausing for long enough to stop and considered what she was doing.  She made her across to the counters across from her.  Sighing to herself in satisfaction when she realised that she had adequately tidied up in here earlier, at least the drugs were not laying astray in their compartments.

 

Nevertheless, with her hands she rifled through the drugs and smirking to herself in satisfaction, she started to mutter nonsense to herself under her breath.  Grabbing a few small vials of a mild sedative, just enough to stop the Rogue Avengers from being able to cause a great deal of fuss.  Slipping the small vials into her pocket, Jyn left the room behind satisfied that she was finally able to make sure that she had enough to make this transfer as pain-free and seamless as she could make it.

 

Feeling the small lump in her pocket, Jyn almost skipped back towards the entrance to the spaceship.  While she walked through the spaceship, she patted the pocket she was holding the all-important drugs and smugly smiled to herself.  Rolling up the cuffs of her shirt, she readied herself to do something incredibly important.  Something that she knew could see them all finishing the work they had set they had set out to do.

 

Hurrying in her footsteps as she made her way towards the doors, she paused for a few moments and looked around her.  Not wanting to pause for too long, she cast her eyes around, waiting for the man.  Humming a soft tune to herself while she shifted her weight from foot to foot.  She wondered how likely it was that Cassian would be up momentarily to walk with her.

 

After having shifted her weight from foot to foot, Jyn saw Cassian walk towards with, with a barely imperceptible frown.  She tapped one of her feet up and down as she impatiently waited on the guy, she felt that now that she had something to do, something to work towards, she felt a sudden burst of energy.  Jyn found that it could sometimes be like this, especially when she found some output for her energy, a defining purpose to which she could direct her energy into.  It was as if her subconscious knew that she was about to finish her job, and just had a few final tasks to carry out meant that she was filled with glorious purpose.

 

Having said that though, Jyn found that she was not all that comfortable with relying on such a trite phrase.  She confessed that she liked the way it sounded because she was well aware that it was linked to issues with alien invaders in the past.  Jyn did not like the notion of linking herself with something so tempestuous.  There was always the niggling thought in the back of mind that she was an alien, she did not like to entertain even the possibility of either her or friends being thought of as alien invaders.  Some things she was just too close even to entertain the notion!

 

Finally, Cassian sauntered up to her, still playing with his hands.  He nodded once at Jyn and pointed to the doorway of the spaceship, not wanting to pause and wait until Jyn had started to walk with him.  He slowed in his steps momentarily, allowing Jyn to catch up with him while he made his way from the spaceship.

 

“Okay, so how are we going to play this?” Jyn asked the woman as she made her way from the spaceship with the man.

 

“We should handle this calmly and slowly.  I know that you have the sedatives.  We should probably begin to handle this in as calmly and quietly.  There is precisely no point in getting them spooked, especially when it comes time for us to move them.  Any thoughts?” Cassian told the woman as they made their way through the building once again.

 

Cassian did not think that now was the time for him to look around like a deer in the headlight.  Not when he still had a job to do.  Peering over at a quiet Jyn beside him, Cassian nodded in recognition of the job to come.  Stopping himself from whistling a cheerless tune to himself, Cassian hurried in his footsteps, not wanting to prolong and delay the inevitable.  This was about to get messy; it would serve them no further good if they rushed into something and as a result got sick.

 

Jyn grabbed onto one of the man’s elbows and cast a stern look in his eyes.  She told the man solely by looking at his, that now was the time for him to be calm.  Jyn did not relish the possibility of having to calm down Cassian, not when they were at this stage of the game.  Holding tightly onto the man’s elbow, Jyn waited until he had nodded at her before she resumed let go of him.  The two of them walked into the small room ahead of them together.

 

It was neither here nor there if Jyn was currently entertaining vision of entering a dragon’s lair.  Shaking the image out of her head, she drew in a deep breath before entering the room side by side with Cassian.

 

Jyn spotted Ms Hill standing in the centre of the room, with her arms folded over one another.  Trying not to visibly react when she saw that the woman was looking severe as per usual and exacting.  Standing or rather floating near Ms Hill was Designation: The Vision, Jyn took in the sight of the android tapping frantically at one of the tablets.  She thought to herself that it looked as if they were about to do something important.  Deciding that she would be the one best equipped to keep a clear and rational head she opened her mouth to speak;

 

“Is there any way that we could give them this small amount of sedative before we transfer them?  We do not feel the need to point out exactly how bad this could get if we do cover all of our bases now, how risky it could be for us to begin transferring antsy prisoners.  If there is any risk of us being attacked before we are ready and willing to defend ourselves, it would be now.” Jyn spoke rationally.

 

“Okay, we could inject them with a small amount of sedative, but that would mean getting close to them before we can sure we could contain them.  If you would like though, Sir has been outfitted this prisoner bay area with some changes.  We could pump in a small amount of sedative and then wait for them to collapse before we walk in.  We have masks we can wear.  Would you like my help in transferring the Prisoners?” Vision calmly asked, showing the pair their options.

 

Jyn and Cassian exchanged a look; they were not sure whether or not they could trust Vision walking through their spaceship.  For one thing, it could become risky if the android should see something that he should not and be not ready for the implications.  They also knew, however, that they needed help in getting the prisoners transferred onto their spaceship.

 

Sharing a conversation through their eyes, as they had frequently been wont to do, they argued with one another over the pros and cons.  Finally, Cassian had had enough and let out an angry huff through his nostrils, Jyn thought that it seemed as if the guy was ready to breathe the steam.  He nodded his head in reluctant acquiesce and inclined his head.

 

“Very well, but you have to promise never to tell anyone what you spot on our spaceship – there are some things that we do think the human race in **_this_** Universe is ready for.  There is some technology that we feel the need to be careful of.” Cassian told the android calmly.

 

Designation: Vision briefly glanced at Maria Hill before slowly nodding his head.  He too understood how high the stakes were.  On his part, he found himself worried (was that what this strange emotion was) that if these people should suddenly decide to wash their hands from any part in this scheme.  The vision for one thought that it would not be an easy thing if he were suddenly expected to subdue Wanda.  He found that he still had some small amount of fondness for the woman and he did **_not_** want to indulge in that line of thinking again.

 

He had already gotten Rhodey hurt; he did not want to think about what could happen next if he should get distracted while doing something important. 

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Clint looked around in alarm when the small cell he was being contained in began to flood with a small whitish coloured gas.  He knew that it was a different cell because he could vaguely remember being transferred.  He thought he might be somewhere in America now, but he was kept heavily drugged when he was being transferred, so he was not sure of a lot.

 

Sluggishly looking down at the jumpsuit he was wearing, he realised that there was not enough fabric for him to easily rip off to block off access to his mouth and nose.  He found that he did not even have the energy to care whether or not he passed out.

 

Clint was able to recognise that he made a big mistake, he had followed after a guy with no real plan other than keeping his best friend out of harm’s way.  It did not matter that Clint had thought they were friends, turns out that no one could compare to precious Buky fucking Barnes.  Not in Rogers’ eyes anyway.

 

Clint found himself wondering what Nat knew about this mess, she had looked shifty, and he had seen her looking a lot better.

 

Shaking his head, he was not going to get to the bottom of this now, not when he was so tired.  Maybe he would have some brighter ideas after a nap.

 

A nap sounded good right about now.

 

Laying his head down and closing his eyes sounded good.

 

He would do just that.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans get made, plans get interrupted

Cassian sighed as he slid himself into the pilot’s seat.  He knew that this next part was bound to get complicated.  If Cassian could be sure of only one thing, it was that he despised the rule of law.  Sure, he could see some benefits to it, but lawyers and legal speak had not worked to save his Home Universe.  If it had then who knew where he might be now?  It was unlikely that he would have ever felt the need to go on what he had accepted with a sense of unease, a suicide mission.

 

Cassian recognised that he was more of a do-it-yourself kind of guy, what benefit had it ever served anyone to wait around for others to do the things that _you_ could?  Maybe it was his old profession as a spy raising its’ head again, but Cassian honestly wondered how much was likely to get done if he did not get off his arse and do something.  If you wanted something done right, then you had to do it yourself indeed!

 

Shaking his head out again, Cassian put the grumbling thoughts of resting on your laurels to the back of his head and continued the pre-flight checks for the spaceship.  When he was finally satisfied with what he was seeing, he pulled the lever that allowed the spaceship to ‘disappear’.  He did not think it counted as complete invisibility. It was simply camouflaging technology that was standard at home.  Here though, here they did not have access to the same technology.  He idly thought to himself that he could probably impress the people of this Universe, that or frighten them.  The number of toys that he had to play with was quite frankly amazing.  He had not known how much of a tech-head Dacia had been when they were first picked up.

 

It had taken him some time to learn more about the woman that he travelled with, given that he had not been sure that there were many (if any) Jedi Knights left, he had not given them a lot of thought.  He preferred to think of the here and now rather than any larger matters that were not going to serve him, either immediately or ever.  To say that Dacia had never surprised him would be a blatant lie.  The very fact that the woman existed was a big surprise.  He had sometimes heard campfire stories whisper about the Jedi Knights of old being aloof and unkind and uninterested.  He had never chosen to speak of the whispers with the higher-ups in the Resistance because he was not interested in being on the receiving end of a reprimand.

 

Quietly, though, he thought he could believe them because he had long heard mutters of how unpalatable life could be under the Jedi order.  He privately thought, that if the Jedi had chosen to open their eyes and make a few changes, then they might no longer be in this mess.  It was possible that the Empire (when it was still burgeoning) had managed to get its hooks into people, who wanted things to change.  Not that it was much better under the Empire when the only thing you had to look forward to was the death of your loved ones and yourself if you publically threw your lot in with the Resistance.  Hope was a dangerous thing, simply because it could keep you awake at night hoping that things could change.

 

Attempting to dislodge the thoughts from his head, as his hand hovered over the switch that would allow him to launch into the hyperdrive that he still needed.  His eyes darted over the small fuel gauge and grumbled to himself that he would still need to ensure that they could safely control the ship.  It looked as if it was going to be a slightly slower trip, which was fine it was still only a few hours, the spaceship was fast enough for his taste, even without the risk of ‘breaking your face’ as you travel at extreme speed.  Muttering to himself as he wondered where he was going to get some of the parts needed for the travel safely while still going extremely quickly.  The easiest and quickest way was for him to be able to strip a spaceship from their home Universe for parts.  Given that he was not likely to come across such a spaceship, that idea was firmly out of hand for now.  He resigned himself to having to fabricate the parts that he needed.

 

Going over some of the equations he would need aloud with both BODHI and K-2SO helped, he liked having a list of what he would need.  It either made him shake as he thought of some of the things he would need to do, or it made him feel relieved as he was able to visualise the length of the tasks he would need to complete.  Enough time passed until he felt that he could safely leave the cockpit.

 

“BODHI keeps the spaceship flying, would you?  There are a few things I want to discuss before we arrive at the Hague with Dacia and Jyn.  Are they in the central computer nodule?” Cassian asked stressed.

 

“Yes, they are in there, I shall alert you if there are any problems with our route.” BODHI dismissed Cassian.

 

Not wanting to spare the time to look over his shoulder, Cassian hurried from the room whistling lowly to himself.  He was not sure what he should do next, but he knew that Dacia and Jyn would no doubt have some ideas for him.  Which was why he was making his way along the gleaming silver corridors, right now he knew that he would have to take an uncomfortable conversation with Jyn and Dacia.  It would not do him enough good, to simply ignore the topic until he was forced to sit up and pay attention.

 

It was with these thoughts in his mind that he felt his feet begin to speed up beneath him.  It was more important than ever that he had this conversation, to him it did not matter how uncomfortable it made him, he needed to make sure that the women were on the same page.  He remembered Dacia having once mentioned a phrase that she liked – singing from the same hymn sheet.  He thought that in this case, it was particularly apt.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

“Dacia, I think that we have a problem on our hands.  We are making good time to the Hague, but we do not have enough fuel to burn through to go into hyperdrive.  For now, we should be okay, but I do not want to push it.  Have you had any more luck in tracking down the origins of the fact that you have been able to connect with the Force?” Cassian asked worriedly.

 

“Right, that is fine, for now, I do not think we have to hurry, but I am starting to think that this world has been breached.  If we allow it to slip, we could have an even bigger problem on our hands.” Dacia started before sighing.

 

“We can deal with that, for now, we should be more focused on finishing our work.  It would not be a good thing to be caught with our metaphorical pants down.  Do you have any further ideas on how we can track them down?” Jyn worriedly interrupted.

 

“I have been thinking about that, and for now all we can work on is that we do not get found.  Jyn think about starting an email to MI6 and explain to them that we may end up cutting and running.  I do not need to point out that if I can trace that location even further, we may end up having to leave them hanging out to dry.  For now, our top priority is _our_ safety, like I said I am willing to throw everything away if I should detect even the slightest sign that not everything is as it should be, then we should not be afraid to cut and run.” Dacia lectured sounding stressed.

 

Cassian grimly nodded, he could only guess what was playing on Dacia’s mind, and he had no intention of getting in the middle of things.  He was already far enough into the mix; he did not want to cause himself any additional headaches, not when he simply knew what part he was to play.

 

“Okay, I will take extra care not to overplay our hand, yeah?  We do not want anyone getting in our way by asking us questions.” Jyn nodded before turning away and going directly to work.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Hours passed, while the trio worked in silence, not wanting to get distracted and forget what they were attempting to do.  They were still trying to make sure that they had some security measures they could fall back upon should the situation arise.  Cassian though did not feel as if they would need any of those security measures; he was confident that his friends at least would know when it was better to simply back off and leave them before they decided that it would be better for them to cut their losses simply.

 

Frowning, as he began to read through some more of the equations in front of him, this was not going to be an easy fix.  Chewing at his bottom lip while he tried to work out how long they could reasonably be expected to get by without the requisite parts.  He cursed the technology of this World, mostly because he knew that if it was caught up with what he was used to, then he could reasonably expect to get out of this in a good timeframe.  As it was though, he would more likely wind up having to fabricate the machines needed to create the parts needed to create the fuel.  It could take him some time to gather everything he needed, so, for now, he was passing the time by drawing up some of the equations that he would need to have access to when it came time to building.

 

Shaken from his thoughts when Dacia’s quiet breathing hitched, he shot the woman a curious glance.  He did not think that whatever it was that the woman was looking at could count as carnal, but then he was not a Jedi, he told himself and others that whatever floats your boat was just fine.  For now, though, he became concerned when he heard  Dacia begin to mutter angrily to herself, she must have found something, Cassian thought.  Judging by the colour the woman’s face was turning, Cassian felt comfortable hazarding a guess and saying that it was nothing good.

 

“Damn it, Cassian, how close are we to the Hague?” Dacia muttered crossly.

 

Dacia’s voice had echoed around the small room, she might have been speaking quietly, but they had been that quiet and focused on what they were doing.  That even whispering could sound like muffled gunshots, Dacia’s face was turning red, and her ponytail was beginning to come loose.  The woman had a habit of pulling at her hair that reared its head when she started to become inordinately stressed.

 

“We should not have that much longer to go, do you want me to speed up?” Cassian asked, wondering what else fate had in store for them that day.  He was beginning to get incredibly fed up with feeling like he was being pulled around by forces outside of his control.

 

“For now, we will need to literally dump these Avengers at the Hague and hightail it back to the continental US.  I have gotten some indication that whoever we suspect might have followed us through, maybe in Chicago, or at least somewhere in the vicinity.  It is more important now that we continue to chase after those people, who knows we might need to be ready to beat back a potential invasion force.  Either that or something has gotten lost and has shown up on our scanners as being extremely strange.” Jyn looked concerned flicking through a few of the scanners in a hurry while she looked for any indication that could prove Dacia’s words to her.

 

Dacia reflexively tucked some hair behind her right ear, and closed her eyes, looking worried about what she was about to do.  The kinds of things that she could unleash on this Universe with poorly chosen words did not bear thinking about.  Not for her at any rate, she was well aware that any point she had to choose her words and actions carefully.  For now, though, she simply brushed aside the concerns and chose to focus on what she was trying to do.

 

Which for the moment she was choosing on focusing on the current problem, as long as she would have enough time to make a quick run to the Hague, dump the Prisoners on their laps and then run back to wherever the hell the new creeping threat followed them.  She was well aware that normally it would not take as long a time to sort out the new threat, but she was working with old technology.  She could not completely trust in her spaceship to run at optimal capacity.  Sure, she trusted Cassian to be able to tune up the spaceship, but she was not particuraly anxious to find out whether or not he was still capable of miracles when he did not have ready access to everything he needed.

 

Attempting to dislodge some of the thoughts from her head, would normally require a great deal of effort.  Or possibly alcohol, but she was more than a little disappointed to note that the alcohol from this Universe did not touch her in much the same way.  She suspected that it was because she was effectively travelling away from home, her body might be working on repairing itself.  She could guess that she had possibly taken some injuries after their mad dash and given the difficulty she had reaching the Force, implied that the little she could still access was working on healing her.  It would not be the first time Dacia cursed her latent Jedi abilities.  Either that or her clumsy nature.

 

Maybe if she had not been so heavily injured before, then she would have been able to reach the Force long before?

 

“We can put that out of our head for the moment, let us hope that they do not think we are the kind of maniacal beings unconstrained by politeness.  We could not trust the Avengers enough to remain in our spaceship while we investigate the problem could we?” Dacia sharply asked as her fingers sped up slightly over the computer.

 

“Again, normally, I would say no, but you have just gotten yet more proof of where they are right?  We are going to have to go in to settle them before something terrible happens, right?” Cassian cautiously asked.

 

“Yeah, I have pinned them down, it does not look as if they will be able to cause us a lot of trouble, at least, the hard part is done now.  Or the part that I could only foresee as being something that could cause us a lot of person-hours.  But I need to know if it would take us a terrifically long amount of time to get back to the continental United States.  Are we very far over the Atlantic Ocean now?  Is it too late for us to get back?” Dacia asked the pair, beginning to feel more nervous.

 

“We are about halfway to Ireland at the moment, K-2SO, you are better at sound polite than any of us.  Email whoever your contact is at the Hague, and give him our condolences, we shall get there as soon as we can.  Dacia, do you have any firm idea of where we can find this interloper?  If you do, give Cassian the coordinates.  I will check our current weapons stocks we should hopefully have enough for us to work through.” Jyn told the other two.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Jyn whirled from the room and made her way into the small weapons room; she disliked having to spend any amount of time in this room.  She felt as if it could not quite explain why she hated this room so much, certainly she would never have any pull over her in a weapons room before.  Jyn wondered from time to time if it may be some fibre of her being called to her from the room that she now knew her Papa had possibly spent so much time in similar rooms.

 

If Cassian knew what she thought he would no doubt snort at the woman, maybe for her being overly melancholic or taking a trip down memory lane, in other words feeling nostalgic for something she was never aware of before.  While Jyn now knew what her Papa had worked at, she had not always known; she could no more profess an affinity for weapons rooms than the sky could turn yellow.

 

Though maybe those were Jyn’s words, she had not known her friend to make such needlessly poetical flowery statements.

 

Shaking the thoughts from her head, Jyn started to hum to herself as she went through some of the crates and counted out the number of guns.  She figured that it was not likely that Dacia should want any of the (rather a slim number) heavy weaponry.  Dacia would likely want to operate this as a closed book mission, so her hands drifted towards the smaller handguns.

 

On a whim, she decided to check the stocks of scuba equipment; she could feel something deep in her bones, telling her that now these things could prove to be useful.  It did not make a lot of sense to her; there was no reason telling her to go for the scuba equipment, nothing beyond a quiet little whispering in her ears telling her that she should be careful and listen to her gut for a change.  Checking the mouth apparatus, she smirked to herself smugly and slipped the devices into a small bag that she had earlier grabbed.

 

Finally satisfied that she had managed to gather together enough gear, Jyn hummed quietly in satisfaction before preparing to the leave the room behind her.  Jyn was well aware that she was probably running around like a blue bottle fly at this point, but she found herself struggling to care.  Let someone mock her all they wanted, if they understood the reason for Jyn’s rushing, then no doubt they would understand.

 

Jyn could never understand why someone would attempt to belittle someone for doing whatever they found necessary at that time if they did not completely understand the reasons behind rushing around.  That was not to say that Jyn did not occasionally find benefit in simply taking it easy, she would easily profess that sometimes solutions could be plucked when your mind was relaxed enough to turn over the problem at hand and examine it at length.  It was unfortunate that she so rarely got this opportunity when she needed to get something done, an urgency frequently lay behind her reason making.

 

Shaking her head to try and clear some of the more bothersome errant flies of movement from her head, she spared the room a last glance before leaving it behind her and making her way back to the central computer nodule.  Jyn was well aware that hanging in the bag at her hips, were the things that might make her life easier.  It was not up to her to needlessly delay, not when they could so quickly get back down to the work that needed doing.  Not wanting to know what it could sound like if she should start to whistle to herself, Jyn sped her footsteps up.  Why was a short walk that she must have completed several hundred times before stretching out before her?  Was it because she knew that she held something very important to the continued health of their mission at her hips?

 

_WHOOSH_

“Okay, I have all the pieces here, do we each have our holsters, something tells me that it would not be a good idea to be away from our weapons.  Not now, not when we cannot be sure of what is going on.  Dacia have you received any further clues as to what we should be on our guard for?” Jyn briskly told the two.

 

“No, but I have a feeling deep in my bones that tells me we should be very careful as to how we choose to react, especially now given that we are so close to being able to wash our hands of this whole affair.  What were you able to grab though Jyn?  For now, that is more important than half-seen images and half-understood omens.” Dacia waved away the woman’s concern.

 

“Right, you are, I was able to grab some small hand blasters, along with some of the smaller handguns that we were forced to procure at the start of this mess.  On a whim, I grabbed the scuba diving mouthpieces, because I have an instinct that tells me that now we are going to need those things.  I fear though that I can not adequately explain even to myself what it is that tells me we may need those things.” Jyn told the two in a perfunctory fashion.

 

“Shit on a stick.  Is this one of your instincts again Jyn?  You know what happened last time we decided that we could ignore what your instincts were needed.  I may have once made fun of you for listening to your intuition, but in this instance, I think she may well be right.  I was looking at some of the geography in downtown Chicago; it rests on the Chicago River which flows in Lake Michigan eventually.  If there is someone you feared has followed us, even years later, and they show up there, we are going to need something to work with the river in mind.” Cassian cautioned.

 

“Okay, keep them in your bag, for now, Jyn.  Cassian are we any closer to landing?” Dacia asked stressed.

 

“Yeah, it won’t take us that much longer to land, about half an hour or so I’m guessing.  BODHI has the spaceship in cruise control now; he will only need me to come closer when we begin to approach civilisation again.  For now, though, the spaceship is being suspended miles above the ground, with our invisibility flaps on, no one should be able to spot us.  Unless that is we want them to know that we are here.” Cassian told the two.

 

“That is something we can work with, but for now we need to make sure that we can land okay.  Cassian, go back to the cockpit and get ready to land.  I do not need to point out just how important it is that we should remain safely hidden, away from prying eyes, right?” Dacia reminded the man quietly.

 

Cassian nodded once before sweeping from the room, ready to do a lot of work.  He was not sure what he would find but he was sure that he wanted to be ready for whatever it was, he did not want to miss a thing.  Not while he still had something to say about it!

 

_WHOOSH_

For years afterwards, Dacia would struggle to remember the landing, simply because she was too filled with the worries of what she might find when they landed.  She was faced with worries of whether or not she was ready for whatever would automatically face them as soon as they opened the doors.  Dacia worried that even though they had faced fights with the remaining Avengers and associated figures within the past year, they might be nothing more than playground dust-ups compared to what she could face.

 

Dacia could remember some of the foes she had been forced to face when she was still a Jedi Knight; it was a universal concept that even glorified librarians and scholars could be pressed into service if push came to shove.  And boy had it come knocking at her door.  Dacia had never been and probably never would be the type to sight quietly on the sidelines while her family and friends faced danger, she had fought, her old friend Mace Windu had helped to train her.  She would not choose to sit by idly; she would not stand even to be asked to do such a thing; such a thing was a great insult to someone of her calibre.

 

It was a very close thing that Mace had managed to convince her with the help of Yoda that it would be better if her existence and unique skillset were kept quiet.  Goodness knows how it had saved her when Skywalker had decided to go dark side, how could the man, or whatever he had turned into hunt down something he had no idea even existed? Dacia had heard some of the rumours of the procedures that Skywalker had gone through, and she had felt saddened.  She could remember having glimpsed Padawan Skywalker a few times when he had come through training and could remember thinking how cute the little boy was.  She shuddered to even think of the thought processes that the young man must have leapt through to think that the Dark Side was the next logical step.

 

Putting those thoughts out of her head, Dacia looked towards Jyn and sucked in a deep breath before she stood up from her seat.  The pair of them started to work in silence, wanting to be ready to leave this room behind.  Smoothing out her shirt once again, Dacia tried to get herself into the right mindset for whatever would happen; she still was not sure how long she would have until she next got some more peace, for now, she would have to gather herself.

 

Jyn had busied herself over making sure she had all the guns and ammunition, tapping her tongue against the back of her upper teeth while her hands rifled through the small bag.  Finally satisfied, when she realised that she did indeed having all of the parts that she would need, Jyn straightened up, wondering how likely it was that they would get out of this unharmed.

 

When Cassian joined the two girls, he nodded once at them; he felt he was ready for this part.  Cassian looked over as Dacia idly stroked her hand over the silver tube that Cassian knew could easily become her deadly lightsaber.  Goodness knows that his friend looked like she was keyed up and ready to march into battle, though Cassian privately hoped that it would not get that far.  Though Cassian was not sure if he would ever get his hopes, he tried to remind himself that it was better that he was prepared for anything he may be about to walk into.

 

Speeding up their footsteps to catch up with Dacia, the three of them left the spaceship is silence.  Looking over at Dacia, who was clutching a smaller version of her tablet, tapping at it frantically while she tried to work out exactly where they were supposed to be looking for.  Cassian gulped as he realised that this could very quickly turn serious.

 

Dacia’s eyes swiftly brightened as she found what she was looking for, it looked like she was finally on the right track.  Using hand signals to direct her friends to where she wanted to go, Dacia briefly looked up from her tablet and surveyed the surrounding area.  Shooting a glance a Jyn, she wanted the woman to keep an eye on the maps of the surrounding area.

 

It was important that they should know what they were about to walk into before it became too late.

 

Jyn briefly looked up while she tried to orient herself as they walked, she was scrolling through the maps of the surrounding area.  Jyn thought that while it was important that they should know where exactly they were heading, it was important that she did not begin to lose her way.  Keeping an eye on her surrounding area, Jyn glanced over Dacia’s shoulders every so often while she tried to work out exactly where they were heading.  Feeling her nerves begin to climb up when she realised that the scuba mouthpiece looked like it was about to come more relevant.

 

Flicking her fingers once again over the screen when she realised that she was closing in whatever location they were heading towards.  Sliding the small tablet into the bag hanging at her waist, she slid a sidelong glance at her friends.  Dacia was chewing on her bottom lip, with her eyes closed beginning to look supremely vindicated.  Jyn watched as Dacia slid the small tablet into a bag hanging at her waist.

 

“Okay, so what are we looking at here?” Cassian hesitantly asked.

 

“I have that feeling crawling up my spine that this might be something more than we are ready for because I do not see how this is going to end well.  It might be that we stumble upon something that we are not ready to face, but what I can tell you is that it could prove to be incredibly dangerous.” Dacia muttered her eyes scanning the surrounding area.

 

“Crap, so you can not be sure whether or not we will be able to get through this mess, because it sounds like you might be hinting that you can not be sure whether or not we have faced this kind of threat before.  Have I got that right?” Cassian lowly asked.

 

“You have got it in one, I can not be certain of the situation that we are about to walk into, and as such, I want to remind you two to be on the lookout, just in case anything should go south.” Dacia sharply replied.

 

“This could get very messy, very quickly huh?” Jyn dully cut in.

 

“Yeah, it could, and if it does begin to go that way, I need you both to remember to cover for me, alright?” Dacia reminded the two with a hard edge to her voice.

 

Cassian and Jyn both nodded their heads slowly; they were not sure what kind of situation Dacia could be thinking of that might force them to cover for her.  It was just in the nick of time because the air was suddenly rent with a loud noise.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dacia goes hunting, the team work as a unit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry the chapter is so late, I was away at the weekend, and hit a bit of a mental block. You know when you've wrote yourself into a corner and struggle to find the next few words? That was exactly what was happening here.

Cassian looked up concerned when he realised that whatever it was they were looking for had rapidly become even more stressful.  Cursing to himself when he realised that it looked as if the stakes had just risen exponentially.  Cassian found that he could not be sure of what he had stumbled into.  His head rotated further round while he tried to work out how he could be expected to handle the next few hours, sneaking a glance at Dacia he knew that he was ready to back up Dacia’s play.  Even if the woman did not look as if she knew what she was supposed to do next.

 

Cassian looked down when he felt something nudge his hand.  Realising belatedly that he had been so busy lost in his thoughts, that he had stopped looking around, he glanced at Jyn.  Taking the small mouthpiece from the woman, Cassian slid it carefully into his pocket.  He could not garner clues from peering at the woman.  Swivelling his head to look at Dacia he could see the woman begin to look more and more stressed.  Trying to sigh at the woman’s face, Cassian wondered if he had ever found anything more amusing to him than watching the woman.  Sure, it might have started with distrust, but he frequently found that there little he found more fascinating.

 

Cassian knew that he was about to walk across a very high tightrope, he felt as if the only thing he could be sure of was that a misstep could mean something incredibly bad for him.  For them all.  Cassian sighed to himself and rubbed at his temples, trying to soothe a tension headache he could feel building.  Watching as the woman silently gulped, he could see a change of calm transforming her features.  It would always amaze him to watch the emotions play across Dacia’s face when she came to a decision.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia found herself faced with a strange sensation, one that she had not felt in a great amount of time.  One where she sensed that there was another user of the Force within proximity.  Her tongue twitched slightly inside her mouth, as she tried to savour some of the deliciousness of being near to someone else who was either a Force user or Force adept.  Shaking her head sharply as she tried to remind herself that she should not get distracted by the first potential sighting of a pool of water in a hot and desert.

 

Dacia had long ago resigned herself to the fact that she might never meet another user of the Force.  She had briefly wondered whether or not Designation: Scarlet Witch used (or had access) to the Force, but she had felt dismayed when she was around the woman.  Dacia had not liked the way whatever it was that the woman wrapped around her was dark, and both tasted and stunk like a poison cloaking her and her wicked intentions.  Dacia had always come away with an intense headache, feeling as if she been poisoned or whacked around the head by something large and heavy.

 

Shaking her head once again as she tried to draw her attention back to the matter at hand.  She was sure that she was going to be able to find whoever it was that had drawn her attention momentarily.  She tried not to audibly grumble when she looked up to realise that it was some emergency services.  Growling to herself and startling a look from Cassian, she ruefully thought that she must have been even louder than she thought, she realised that the stakes had climbed even higher.

 

Dacia was well aware now that if the stakes were a physical thing, then they might be as high as Mount Everest or at the least Mount Kilimanjaro.  This might become tricky, especially if they were faced with pesky questions about their intentions.  Cursing to herself silently when she realised that she would have preferred to be able to skate under the radar a little while longer.

 

Dacia realised that it was so typical that they had been threatened with exposure right when another potential threat had followed them here.  She wondered if this was a firm indication that whoever it was, were they indeed Dark Side?  Or was she approaching this with a firm notion in her mind of the potential intentions of whoever their newest foe was?  Dacia smirked to herself when she thought of how much Mace Windu could be shaking his head at the woman; he had always lectured on entering something with preconceived notions.  Yoda for one might be starting to scream at her if he knew where Dacia’s thoughts were heading.

 

“Cassian, Jyn, you know what to do, we do not want to attract any undue attention.  I know that some of our most recent actions might hint that it would be nigh on impossible to completely avoid attention.  But I do not need to stress how much I would like to avoid paparazzi, especially when we are so close to nearing the end.” Dacia hissed at the other two.

 

She needed to know that the other two were ready to play their parts, for she knew that now she needed to turn **all** of her attention to hunting down the scourge which now plagued her.  Dacia felt the stirrings of unease deep in her body, she hoped (and prayed) that she could indeed trust her friends at her back, certainly when she knew that she would be faced with self-doubt.

 

“We do, but use the lightsabre if you need too, but here take this,” Jyn whispered back at the other two with some surety in her voice.

 

Dacia looked down at what Jyn was attempting to pass her.  When she had the small weight in her hand, she finally looked down, her eyes lighting up in recognition when she saw what Jyn had pressed into her hand.  It was one of the small communication devices, briefly looking up and peering deep into the woman’s eyes, Dacia slowly nodded her head.  Raising one hand to slide the small device into her ear carefully, Dacia briefly shut her eyes when she was assaulted with the sharp sound of the device settling in.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Cassian flicked his tongue against his teeth when he had slid the device in, peering at his friends, he wanted to be sure that the two would be able to hear him.  Dacia nodded him and carefully flicked her tongue against her own lower teeth when Cassian hear the soft rustling sound he nodded.  Now they would be able to hear one another speak to each other, though Dacia privately wondered how they hoped she would be able to speak if she was deep within the drink below.

 

Nodding at the two, Dacia reached into her pocket and carefully withdrew three small dots; she was ready to give them to her friends.  Briefly clearing her throat before she began to speak, she surveyed her friends again, before handing over two of the small dots with a heavy sigh.

 

“Okay, here are our trackers and cameras, just in case we should each wear them in case we get separated from one another during this mess.  It might prove to be imperative that we should be able to contact one another and see what we can each see.” Dacia handed them over carefully.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Jyn took a moment to look at Dacia before carefully affixing the dot to the right breast of her scarf.  Tapping at the dot once, she looked up in time to see Cassian take note of the small dot to begin to look almost immediately like a button.  When she had attached the small dot, she fished back into the bag at her side for her small phone type device.  Smirking to herself when she was able to see Cassian standing in front of her, she nodded to herself and slid the small phone back into her pocket.

 

Dacia started to breathe in great, heaving breaths, before nodding at the other two and making her way over to the riverside.  Jyn exchanged a cautious look with Cassian and the two of them separated.  Cassian found himself a quiet corner to stand in, he felt it was important that he should be able to see the surrounding area, but he did not want to be disturbed unnecessarily.  What he was about to do, was very important, and for the first part at least it was important that he should have no further distractions.

 

Jyn meanwhile started to walk over to one to the cars that had squealed onto the scene.  Trying not to raise an eyebrow when she noted that it looked like the man was the type to take charge at a scene.  That should make her job a little bit easier. Hopefully, the man was not too much of an idiot to try her patience.  As she walked, she reached into her pocket and grabbed out some identification; she was aware that it was not strictly legitimate, but she needed the man to trust her.  She did not want to think about what could happen if she found her orders questioned.

 

Dacia had stepped closer to the river edge, and her eyes scanned over it carefully, her breath hitched a little when she spotted what she had been looking for.  Flicking her tongue against her teeth, she whispered;

 

“Cassian we are in the right place, I can see parts of the spaceship where it may have come down.  I am going in here to make sure that I can contain whatever threat lies for us in there.  Be ready to back up Jyn should she need it.”

 

Her eyes scanning over the murky water beneath her, Dacia tried to make a game plan in her head, she wanted to be sure what she would do before she dived in and potentially made things a lot worse.  She did not particularly relish the opportunity of being caught without any real idea she wanted to head to next.  Knowing that it was not likely to show any proof, she growled to herself and fought against the small urge telling her to look over her shoulder.

 

It was probably even more important that she should trust her friends to carry out what they were supposed to be doing.  Dacia knew that she would not be able to keep her eyes on all of the moving parts of this plan, this would be testing the limits of her trust, though she would assure anyone listening that she could trust.  If there were times when she struggled with it, then that was neither here nor there!

 

Shaking her head as she came to a plan, Dacia fingered the small oblong device, and half popped it into her mouth, she was ready to see this plan through to the very end.  Now it looked like it was ready to end, Dacia’s mind whirled through all of the potential snags they could.  Sucking in a deep lungful of oxygen, and screwing her nose up a little when she caught yet another whiff of the river below her.  She raised up on her tip-toes and launched herself from the large imposing sidewalk.

 

Shuddering to herself when she was suddenly assaulted with the cold water against her skin, Dacia tried to shake the thought from her head and tapped the end of the breathing apparatus.  Satisfied when she felt more than saw the dome growing around her face, Dacia sank below the water, wanting to get this part of her job over with.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Jyn could not work out if it were best that she allow the man to speak before she opened her mouth.  Taking stock of the man, she knew how important it could be that she knew which way to tread at this particular juncture.  It would not do for her to get distracted and waylaid, especially if she started to spout nonsense, for now, though she had to be careful in how she worded things.

 

Eyeing the man carefully, she tried to work out how best she should handle this next part.  She thought that the man looked like he was used to getting his way, used to having his orders followed without question.  Jyn thought that normally this would be a good thing, he was, after all, a battalion chief (whatever that was) and a firefighter, but she could only hope that now he did not become another thorn in her side.  She did not need any distractions, certainly not while she was in the home straight so to speak.  Shaking the thoughts from her head, she concluded that she would be better served if she allowed the man to speak first.  Mostly because she had no clue how to handle the guy if push came to shove, not that she was particularly eager to find out what would happen if they were pushed to beyond a point of no return.

 

Feeling a stirring in her gut, as she tried to work out if it would look better if she began speaking, she decided for herself, and before the man could begin to work up a good head of steam, she cut him off at the pass;

 

“Hi there, my name is Jyn Erso, where we come from does not matter, I am going to be a liaison for you.  May I know who I am speaking to?” Jyn politely asked the man figuring it would be better if she remained reasonably polite.

 

“My name is Chief Boden, do you have anything by way of identification with you to prove who you are?” the tall man held out a single hand, as his eyes roved around the scene that he now found himself presiding over.

 

“Certainly, but I must ask that you loop us in on any actions that you are about to undertake, some of the things that you are going to see here were not meant to be seen by anyone.” Jyn simply told the man as she passed the man a letter.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Watching in amusement on his small phone just around the corner, Cassian wondered if he had ever found himself floundering with words so easily?  He could see from Jyn’s movements (the screen told no lies) and hear from her voice that she felt stressed.  Cassian thought that it was probable that he had at one point felt stressed, but he could not remember when.  It was highly unlikely, nay inconceivable that he had never felt stressed about what he was doing.  Such a thing was commonplace when you were a spy after all – he could never expect to skate through life without feeling any stress.  Not when you were constantly putting your life on the line.  Shaking his head to try and draw his attention back to the matter at hand, Cassian focused on the screen which he had already split into two separate views.  He might want to keep an eye on how Jyn was dong, but he also felt it was important that he keep an eye on Dacia’s progress, just in case the woman should need his attention.

 

Cassian knew that it was unlikely that the woman should want his help, but casting a wary eye around him at all of the civilians milling around them, made him shudder to think what could happen if one of them should get caught in the crossfire.  Cassian was comfortable enough with his knowledge of Dacia’s unique personality quirks to know that the woman might take it very hard if someone should get hurt on her behalf.  Now, that they knew they were essentially after a man from their Home Universe, it might make the already bitter pill into toxic sludge if anything should go wrong.

 

Shaking his head, while he tried to focus his attention back onto the matter at hand, Cassian watched with wry amusement as he took in the sight of the Battalion Chief looking like he was about to puff up ready to argue.  Smirking to himself when he wondered if the Battalion Chief had any idea who he was attempting to intimidate.  It would be a cold day in hell if anyone should manage to intimidate the girl nay the woman that Baze had managed to have a small hand in bringing up.  Cassian himself thought that it was more likely that he would be luckier in attempting to get blood from a stone that he would in managing to intimidate her.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

“That looks like it checks out.  Do you know though what to do here though?” Battalion Chief 25 Boden asked, his moustache bristling slightly as he spoke.

 

“I can assure you that we can handle the immediate problem.  You need to focus your people on rescuing the civilians.  For now, they are not our most immediate problem; we can handle the guy in there, allow us to handle this guy.” Jyn calmly told the man.

 

“WE CAN NOT LET YOU DO THIS!  THIS IS OUR CITY DAMN IT WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN PROTECT ALL OF THE CITIZENS OF THIS CITY THE BEST WE CAN.  WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN DO THIS JOB?  WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE REMOTELY QUALIFIED TO EVEN WORK AT THIS.” Battalion Chief Boden roared.

 

“Sir, I understand that you feel a need to protect everyone but with all due respect the person who caused this?  He is under our unique jurisdiction and sir with all due respect you are not ready to handle this threat.  You need us and right now?  Our interests run aligned.  So, make sure that you can get this threat handled, I do not need to point out that it is more important that you look after what you can and allow us to look after what we can look after.” Jyn calmly told the man trying to defuse the situation before it started to get out of hand again.

 

Battalion Chief 25 Boden looked tremendously pissed at the woman, before turning away from the woman with a snort.  Jyn refused to move; she would not roll over, not in front of these people.  She watched in satisfaction as the man turned around and began to roar at some of his men.

 

“SEVERIDE CHECK THE BOAT, CASEY CONTAIN THE DAMN FIRES.”

 

Jyn watched in satisfaction as the two men jumped to follow their orders, both of them were shouting out their orders.  She did not feel a need to listen to them, for now, she had a vastly more important task to undertake.  Namely keep an eye on Dacia, wandering away from Battalion Chief Boden.  She made sure to stand far apart enough from him, where she would be able to hear him if he started to shout for her, but far enough away that it would mean that she still had enough privacy to keep an eye on the tablet in front of her.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Cassian briefly checked his watch; it looked as if time was marching on and would not want to wait long for them.  He clenched his shaky hands into fists, and only extended his hands out again when he felt confident that he could handle the tremors.  Hissing to himself, Cassian wondered if he had known what was going to happen to him, all those years ago, would he still have opted to come on this adventure?  Those thoughts would simply take up too much time for him to parse through, so he blinked his eyes once then twice before refocusing.

 

For now, though, he knew that he did not have enough time to keep more than an eye on Dacia’s progress, he would have to trust that the woman knew enough to be careful.  He needed to keep an even closer eye on Jyn, not because he did not trust the woman to be able to handle herself, but because he was not sure whether or not he could trust the other man.  Cassian could be accused of not trusting easily, but he would argue that with a life lived in the same way he had, would only lead to further trust issues later in life.

 

Jyn might have been brought up (in part) by the fearsome Baze, but she still had to many moving parts to keep her eyes on to keep an eye on her immediate surroundings.  Cassian had heard enough rumours about how harsh and unforgiving the exiled rebel leader could be; he did not want to think about could happen if Jyn Erso’s paranoia was triggered.  He would probably always remember the sight of those he had come across that crossed the man and dearly hoped that Jyn was not like the man in that regard.

 

Smirking to himself when he realised that Jyn’s actions were proceeding exactly how he could expect them too, he shifted his attention back to Dacia’s corner of the screen, tapping a few times to enlarge again once again.  Keeping a wary eye on Jyn for now, Cassian watched as Dacia carefully made her way into a large underwater cave.  Hissing to himself when he realised that Dacia had entered into a greater obstacle than they could have imagined when this adventure was still in its planning infancy.

 

He could only hope than Jyn could remember how to control herself and her reactions, he had never seen the woman blow up when she was stressed, but as he ruefully thought, there was a first time for everything!  Focusing tighter on Dacia’s actions, he watched as the woman crept along the side of the large cave.  He could well understand the woman’s think that drove her to tightly hug at the walls, for now, though he wished that he could be down there with her.  Something told him that his friend might need someone there to keep an eye on her back!

 

_WHOOSH_

 

While this was going on, Jyn tried to hide a curse when she realised that Boden must have recognised that someone else had gone into the water behind them and had not emerged.  Ordinarily, she knew that the man’s professionalism would impress her, but now that it might be holding them back?  Well, now it just pissed her off.  She would have to watch her words and movements here closely; she thought as she glanced around the humans working near Boden.

 

Jyn should have realised that it was not going to be an easy thing for her to make sure that Dacia’s actions were kept hidden.  She understood now exactly how little effort it could take for this whole thing to go belly up, it might be a lot of pressure for her, but she was sure that she was up to it.  At the very least, she was very much aware that she could be trusted, because as always she was able to console herself with the knowledge that Dacia trusted her – if that was not a ringing endorsement she was honestly not sure what was!

 

Tapping at the screen again, Jyn felt the nerves in her ratchet again.  She took a deep breath in and closed her eyes briefly to settle her nerves.  There was very little she found that could be so settling as simply stopping and breathing.  Sadly, though she had to open her eyes and keep her focus on the tablet in front of her.  She did not want to be the one who had to tell Dacia that the whole reason the mission fell through, was simply because she lost her nerves.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Dacia was briefly missing all of this; she had all of her attention focused on the job at hand.  Namely, silently making her way across the bed of the river.  Dacia smirked to herself when she realised that it worked in her favour that the bed of the river had a lot of fallen sediment.  She did not particularly fancy getting closer and examining them; she thought with a wrinkled nose that goodness only knew what had washed up down here after being trapped down here for so long.  There were some things that she did not feel the need to investigate further, only thanking time for making her job that much more disgusting.

 

Groaning to herself when she spotted some kind of floating rat, she could not even be sure whether or not it was dead.

 

Silencing herself again, Dacia swept her eyes over the part of the riverbed that she was approaching.  Stepping carefully as she made sure to keep her eyes open, it would not do for her to miss a step and give away her position before she was ready.  Carefully, Dacia peered around one of the large column type structures on the river bed, carefully putting the thoughts of wondering what the column was, once upon a time.

 

Pulling her head back in alarm when she saw the sharp, vivid green shooting towards her out of the gloom.  Cursing in her head, she gave a beat before attempting to edge around the corner again.  Her ears were carefully attuned to the minute noises that she could pick up, even if she ruefully reflected that it was more likely to be the vibrations that she could pick up on down here.

 

Placing her feet one in front of the other, as she crept carefully over the murky riverbed, Dacia’s eyes darting around as she tried to pick up on any signs of disturbed water.  Once again she cursed herself in her head as she thought to herself that it might be too tricky for her to find anything.  Silently praying for any luck, she did not want to be taken off guard down here, not when she was not sure what enemy lay around the corner for her.

 

Feeling relieved when she felt as if her luck was beginning to change over for her when she spotted a sudden displacement in the current at the corner of her eye.  Clutching at her lightsabre and trying to remind herself that maybe their luck was about to change, she carefully crept the long way around to the spot where she reckoned she had spotted the small water disturbance.

 

Keeping an eye on the changes around her, she approached the spot from the back and smirked to herself when she thought that she could spot a lone figure standing crouched near one of the walls.  Dacia might not be able to make out the figure completely on her own in this gloom, but she did not for one second think that she recognised the figure.  Trying not to allow herself to freak out, when she reminded herself that it had been a long time since she had been home.  If the threat had come from her home Universe, then any number of changes could have so easily followed her, changes that she would not be aware of, certainly not until too late at any rate.

 

Not wanting to take the chance to allow the guy to get away, Dacia steeled her resolve and crept towards the figure as quietly as she could.  She could not work out whether or not the guy was attempting to lure her out, because she figured that the figure could not have made it more obvious where they were standing unless they had a flashing neon sign announcing their presence.

 

_THRUM_

 

Wincing slightly as the lightsabre made a small noise as she pressed the button allowing it come out of its a small tube.  Once again she found herself hoping that the figure’s underwater hearing was that great.  Her mind briefly whirled through a few of the underwater creatures that she could remember and struggled to remember whether or not any of them were likely to hear her.  Putting the thought out of her mind while she tried to wake up the muscles of her body, while she prepared herself to launch herself through the water in a hopping type motion.  It would do her well; if she was able to trap her foe with whatever surprise she could muster, she did not particularly want to draw out this fight if she could help it.  Better to be ready to go in with a quick motion and take what she could get as quick as possible.

 

Thankfully, she was able to surprise the creature and thanked herself for her foresight in making her earlier get her lightsabre ready.  She did not want to think about the potential nastiness of any infections should she manage to catch her flesh with either end of the double-sided lightsabre.  Whoever this creature was, they were remarkably confident in handling their Zweihänder type sword; she shuddered to herself while she blocked the blows.

 

Looking into the face of her foe, she was relieved to spot the small snarl on their face; maybe this fight was also getting to her foe?  Not having enough time to slow down, Dacia traded and parried blows.  Her arms were starting to tire as she struggled to hold up her lightsabre, she cursed herself for ever feeling confident enough not to push herself into training every day.  Even when she had struggled with reaching the Force for so long, she should not have simply ignored that part of her training regimen, even if she had not been able to understand that need until very recently.

 

Kicking her feet up and watching in satisfaction as her rapidly tiring opponent found themselves become momentarily flustered when the water swirled at their heels faster.  Wanting to press her advantage even further, not least, because she wanted to finish this quickly before she should lose her already a slim advantage.  Cutting a long gouge in the rough wall behind them, Dacia felt a brief surge of relief when she was able to lunge forward and wrap a large pair of silver cuffs around the beings’ wrists.

 

Not wanting to take the chance she eyed up her opponent and used a small nerve pinch on her opponent, wanting to make sure that the next portion would be kept relatively simple.  She made sure to wrap an arm around the unconscious lump of her opponent, and made her way from the water.

 

It was now time for her to get some answers.  Maybe now if they were able to understand some of who was following behind them, they would be able to plan their next few moves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zweihänder is a double-hander or both hander sword, it's a large two-handed sword primarily in use during the early decades of the 16th century. It is double edge, straight bladed, with a two-handed cruciform with pommel (plus when I looked it up, it looked so badass)


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The winner takes it all!

Checking once again that she had the all-important goods securely fastened to her person near her waist, Dacia smiled when she saw that she had everything together and prepared to launch herself from the water.  Faltering in her confident movements once, while she remembered to alert both Cassian and Jyn that she was momentarily going to emerge from the drink with a passenger.  Not wanting to slow herself down and wait to ensure that Cassian at the very least knew to expect her, she quickly bent towards her shoes and pressed a single button.

 

Launching herself through the murky water, she tried not to allow herself to think overly of the kinds of things she was no doubt passing.  She told herself again that there was no doubt in her mind that whatever secrets the deep water held, would no doubt disgust her, resolutely shaking the thought from her head, she began the slow ascent.  She might not be certain if she could fall victim to a condition like the Bends, but even she was able to wager a guess that she would not like to follow that thought to its natural conclusion.

 

Dacia tried to imagine herself as looking like something to a shooting silver bullet or star travelling up from the riverbed.  Thinking that though, she tried to remind herself that it was unlikely that anyone was able to look too closely at her, the water was incredibly murky.  Shaking her head while she tried to remind herself that it would be in her best interests to get a shower before she started to get smelly.  She might not be able to smell herself now, but she could confidently and easily guess that she did not smell of a fresh bouquet of roses.

 

Reminding herself that it was time for her to get back to work, she made her way from the water, cursing softly when she realised that she had come out a bit further from the shore than she had initially estimated.  Glancing around her, she tried to work out in her head how much energy she would have to expend to get closer to the shore.  Ruefully thinking of the heavyweight hanging at her hips, she realised that she would likely have to expend twice the amount of energy, to travel a distance that normally would not trouble her.

 

Grumbling under her breath, while she thought of the amount of work that she was now about to have to follow up on, she cast her eyes around for any help.  Dacia was no fool, and she would easily confess that she did not see much point in putting herself even to harm if she did not have too.  If she could find somebody to help her, then so be it, much less strain on her already screaming muscles she reflected.  Hearing a strange sound had her whipping round in the water, wanting to make sure that she could pinpoint any potential threats.

 

Feeling the relief course through her veins, when she realised that a small dinghy joined her, she prayed to all the lesser and greater Gods she could think of that they meant her no harm.  Dacia might have already felt a small measure of relief when she spotted the small lifeboat coming towards her, but a newer unsettling thought suddenly occurred to her.  She could not easily vouch for the intentions of the guys staring back at her from this dinghy.  Dacia hoped that these were not people she should be careful and wary of.

 

Dacia thought that she had felt as if all of her energy had been sucked out of her while she was still fighting with the lazy lump at her hip.  If these people mean her any harm, she would be hard pressed to attempt to defend herself.  With a start, she remembered to listen to her small earpiece again. Hopefully, Cassian or Jyn would be able to shed a little light on whether or not she could trust these people.

 

It was with a great feeling of relief that she noted Jyn speak quietly to her through the small communication device in her ear;

 

“Dacia, you can trust the people in the small speedboat approaching you, they will not bring you to further harm.  In the meantime though, keep a tight hand on our prisoner, I am going to go and make sure that we have the necessary security precautions in place on the spaceship.”

 

Dacia tried not to nod visibly, she was not sure how much these people might know of her friend’s capabilities and call her selfish all you wanted, but she was not sure who she could trust.  It would not do for them to lose control, not when they were so close to the finish line.  Peering over towards what Jyn had informed her was called a speedboat, Dacia wondered if she should ship over.  She was not sure whether or not she could trust these men, so she resolved to simply play it by ear until she had learned even more.

 

Taking in the sight of a few of the men leaning over the side of the boat, their hands outstretched while they reached for Dacia and her cargo.  In a split-second, she decided that it would be better for her if she simply gave her name as Darcy Lewis.  Dacia could easily and comfortably reckon that it would take too long for her to explain that it would take her too long to detail the split in her personality.

 

With some amount of difficulty, she began to swim over towards the men, hoping that they would at least be able to help her.  Steeling her nerves even further when she drew closer, Dacia tried to prepare herself for the possibility of having to watch her words even closer.  Treading water as she waited for the people to approach her even closer, she could only hope that they would be near her quickly.  Her cargo was rapidly beginning to feel even heavier in her arms.  Dacia wondered if she should have left her captive conscious for a while longer, at the very least it might make this part a little bit easier.  Dismissing the idea as out of hand when she realised that it would not have mattered if the being was struggling to get away from her, it could take more energy if she were forced to keep the figure subdued without using a great amount of force.

 

“Hello, Ma’am can we help you back to land?  Reach for my hand, and I can pull you into this little speedboat.” One of the men called out reaching for her.

 

Dacia peered carefully at the man, before using his hands to bring herself over the side of the boat carefully.  Flopping down like a fish out of water, something which she now considered to be possibly quite apt, she heaved for breath.  Oxygen was slowly filling up her lungs again, the weak mid-afternoon sun shining down, attempting to warm the earth even in Autumn.  Gathering her thoughts to herself, while she tried to calm down her racing pulse, turns out that had been an even great strain than she had initially thought.

 

It was just as she had feared – namely that she was more out of shape than she initially thought.  Dacia thought that it possibly had something to do with the fact that for now at least she was dealing with someone or something of similar enhancements from her Home Universe.  It worried her slightly that it had taken her longer to go in for the kill than it normally would, she wondered if it was possible that whatever had been following her, was newly arrived.  It had probably not arrived in a blaze of glory Dacia ruefully reflected, at least the fact that her foe had some energy left to parry with, the being was not fighting to improve its reactions.

 

Dacia felt her stomach begin to clench underneath her while she considered the ramifications of what could have happened if she was not being played with like a doll.  If her foe had taken the thing a bit more seriously, then Dacia could have had an even greater problem on her hands and could have been caught far outside of her comfort zone.

 

Considering that she suspected that she was simply being played with, she wondered just what her foe was capable of if they were not holding back.  Dacia sighed in disgust as she realised that she had been out of the game for too long to count on her luck holding.  If she came up against someone who was determined to put her down, then she could very well be helpless even to do so much as stymy their foes.

 

Shaking her head to try and draw herself back to the present, she peered at some of the men, that she had now entrusted her safety too.  For now, she could only hope that she had not put her eggs into the wrong basket, she would have to have a word with Jyn about how far they could trust these blokes.

 

“Ma’am my name is Joe Cruz, do either you or your charge need medical assistance?” a man, Joe Cruz, asked.

 

“No, we are good, never mind him, he is my charge, and I need to keep a close eye on him.  For now get us to shore and I can deal with him.” Dacia panted.

 

While she was speaking, she carefully pulled her sodden cotton; woollen tunic tighter around her as if to ward off the chill.  Dacia thought that it would be a good idea if she were able to get some warmth into her as soon as possible.  Absently wishing that she had considered how poor an idea it could be if she entered into the water while wearing wool.  She should have tried to dig out her old wet.  Hopefully, that would have been able to keep the warmth in a bit better.

 

Gingerly sniffing herself, she thought that at the very least she might not smell like something had died on her person.  Resolving to take a shower as soon as she was able and scrub at her skin, Dacia now felt as if she would rather enjoy a good hot shower.  It was not as if she had forgotten what hot water could feel like, but she reflected that when one was covered in as much grime as her, a hot shower would feel akin to a minor miracle.  Looking down with a shudder, Dacia realised that Jyn might want to look over her, goodness knows that she looked like a walking petri dish, it would do for her to think of any diseases she may have picked up. 

 

Dacia at least was able to comfort herself with the knowledge that thanks to her are feeling the Force again, may mean that some of the enhancements she had taken for granted for so long might be on their way back to her.  The Force had never been able to decimate any illness completely, but it had shored up her natural defences to such an extent that whispered at how difficult she could find it to get ill from a common bug.  Dacia hoped that it would work like this again, she did not particularly relish having to spend a great amount of time in bed, recovering from this filth.  Chuckling to herself (and resolutely not noticing the alarmed looks she attracted) she thought of how little she had changed.  If some of her old friends from home could see her now, then they would very easily see that she had not changed a great deal.  She may have gotten even more cautious and guarded from time to time, but she still felt a great distaste for time spent in bed.  Especially if it was time she could be used productively, something which she was determined to do for now.

 

Dacia came back to herself, startled when she realised that she had so easily drifted away when she felt one of the men pressing a fluffy towel around her body.  Dacia tried to smile tremulously, the towel at least was warm and dry, it might not take away all of the disgusting filth on her person, but it was something.  Ducking her head slightly and shivering while she tried to refocus her attention back onto the matter at hand, she looked around her for the shore, relieved when she saw that it was coming closer.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Jyn was stood on the shore of the river near Battalion Chief Boden, chewing at her bottom lip while she tried to work out what she should do next.  Cautiously eyeing the ambulance parked near her, she wondered what she should do to distract them.  She might not have heard from Dacia in a while, but she had seen that her friend was in a small speedboat, she tried to rationalise that Dacia simply found it too awkward to speak.

 

Understanding this desire from her friend, Jyn looked down at the small tablet held in her hand, smirking when she saw that Cassian was still paying attention to it.  She might not be able to speak aloud to him, at least not without a great deal of difficulty, but she could send him a message through this.  Jyn was aware that Dacia might need more help than usual, certainly, if she wanted to keep their foe quiet and malleable, so she sent a quiet message to Cassian to go and help out their friend.  It could be bad if Dacia were caught unawares, no doubt Dacia was beginning to feel the strain and Jyn did not want to increase the woman’s burdens.  Jyn might feel as if for now she could do little other than fret; she might be able to help hide her friend’s true mission, but now that their quarry had been captured Jyn could do little else than worry about what could go wrong at this particular juncture.

 

Jyn was well aware that Cassian would no doubt point out that she was simply catastrophizing and that little of what she was doing now could truly help them.  She wondered how that particular little trait of hers had gotten so far out of hand; she had not _always_ fallen prey to the voice of doom in her head.  Some days though she found it a struggle to ignore them.  Who else would they bother if she wasn’t around to be their plaything?  Minutely shaking her head, Jyn knew that for now, her role might prove to be more important than she could have initially imagined.  For now, she would have to make sure that she played her role and kept Battalion Chief Boden from asking the kind of awkward questions that she was in a rush to answer.

 

**Cassian, get ready to help Dacia and her charge, for now, I have to make sure that Chief Boden does not get in the way too much.**

 

Casting her gaze over the deep water as she wondered what her next few steps should be.  She could easily recognise how she handled the man stood near her, could dictate how the next few hours could go; she was glad that Dacia had safely completed her mission, but it was time for Jyn to shine.  She would have to incredibly careful that she did not let on to Battalion Chief Boden how much her shit stunk, she had to hope that the man would allow them to pass him by.

 

Carefully eying the man, she thought that it looked as if the man was not the type to suffer fools gladly.  Ordinarily, she thought that would not bother her, after all, she preferred when people did waste both her and their time.  Now that she would have to bullshit the man for all she was worth, she hoped that the man would not be paying so much careful attention to her words.

 

She might not be able to work out how she could begin to hope to get the man to turn a blind eye on their mission, Jyn knew that Dacia would want to get her quarry onto their spaceship.  Dacia had probably knocked whoever their foe was unconscious to stop him from speaking until they were ready to listen to whatever lies he had to spill.  Jyn recognised that their task could become exponentially more difficult should someone overhear what the being had to say and started to ask questions.

 

Looking upon Battalion Chief Boden once again, while she tried to work out what she should say next.  Unfortunately, due to the sounds of the squawking radio on his chest, Jyn could not think clearly.  The difficult decision, though, was taken out of her hands when Battalion Chief Boden cleared his throat and spoke to her;

 

“We have got your woman in the dinghy, as you can see they are rapidly approaching the shore, we will have our ambulance team ready to look over the unconscious figure that she was travelling with.”

 

Jyn looked at the man in some alarm, while she tried to work out exactly what she should say next.  She could not easily see any way out of the awkward discussion they were about to have.  It might be difficult, but Dacia knew that she could easily run rings around the man if she were not aware that she had to take it carefully.  She did not need to think of how crucial this discussion could be with the man. Nevertheless, thoughts of failure plagued her mind.

 

“Thank you, and that is fine we should be able to handle the figure.  I do not point out that there are some things that you will not be able to run from, some that you will not be able to control.  This is one of those times, leave it with us to control the guy and his fate.” Jyn told the man, not wanting to threaten him.  Not until she was sure that she had no other options left available.

 

“And what am I supposed to put on the paperwork?  You know that I will not be able to hide this, do you not?” Battalion Chief Boden warned.

 

“That is not our concern, not right now but you need to be able to accept your limits.  I am sure that your medical team is one of the better ones, but they will not be able to handle this.  Some things need to be handled with a firm hand; this is one of those times.  Do not pull your people further into a situation that they do not have all the facts at hands.” Jyn warned the guy, already circling the wagons.

 

“That is not a very good answer; we need to make sure that we can close this issue as quickly as we can.  Give me one good reason; we should wash our hands of this whole situation?” Battalion Chief Boden asked, his eyes glinting in warning.

 

“If we do not skip past any unnecessary unpleasantness it could very well mean great danger not just for your City, but rather for your world.  Allow us to take the figure, do not run it up the flagpole and we may get out of this together.  Call further attention to us, and I can promise you that it will not end well for anyone involved.” Jyn flatly told the man.

 

Jyn tried not to wince visibly; she had laid all of her cards on the table, now she had to see what Battalion Chief Boden would do with what he had been told.  Cassian might sometimes snort at Jyn’s ability to be incredibly blunt, sometimes hurtful, but he had confessed that he sometimes wished more people would simply speak what was on their minds than waste time speaking in circles.  Jyn had wondered if the man had started to feel like this because for so long he had worked as a spy, constantly having to extract meaning from people’s words and actions.  Dacia liked to joke that the man had no time for bullshit.  In any case, it would be a more reasonable way to live.

 

“Very well, we shall take your prisoner, but we still need to have your woman seen too.  At the very least because we all saw her go into the river and it would soothe our nerves if she would accept some help.” Battalion Chief Boden quietly warned.

 

Glancing over at Dacia, Jyn wanted to be sure what condition her friend was in before she agreed to allow her friend to be subjected to their medical attention.  Counting backwards from ten in her head did not make much of a difference, because she could only see it as her expertise being questioned.  She could tell herself that Battalion Chief Boden did not that Dacia’s (their) origin was not of this Earth, it would be different, they would no doubt notice small inconsistencies in their scans.  She would have to avoid them going over the top in their scanning; she made a mental note to have them avoid any probing.  For one thing, she was not sure how she could be expected to sell **that** to her friend, should she need too.  Nodding, slowly, knowing that she wanted nothing more than this ordeal to be over.

 

“Very well, but passive, I am responsible for Darcy’s healthcare, if it should make you guys feel better about yourselves to do it.  I do not need to warn you though that if your people should go overboard, then we walk away.  You will not like trying to contain us; I can promise you that.” Jyn ominously warned, affixing Battalion Chief Boden with a grim look that promised hell.

 

Without wanting to wait for the man to speak to her again, Jyn wandered off towards the shore; she would be ready to retrieve her friend.  Lifting out her little tablet as she walked, she quickly sent another message to Cassian.

 

**Cassian, Dacia is about to come over here again, be ready to take the Prisoner, I can not be sure whether or not I will be able to get us out this situation without a great deal of hassle.  Best be ready to move on command, yeah?**

 

Not want to spare a glance towards the corner where she knew Cassian would be coming from, she halted herself on the banks.  It was not so much as a standard bank, more concrete and stone, but for now it would serve its purpose, she idly thought.  It was not a bit of wonder that she could not hear Cassian approach her from behind, she thought that her friend was too good to be heard.  The man had been working for too long as a spy in their Home Universe to have a noisy tread; he would not have last particularly longer if he moved around too noisy.

 

She looked at the woman and held her arms out for Dacia’s prone form, looking over the exhausted looking woman, Jyn realised that she would have to contain this situation hard.  Glancing around her warily, she thanked her lucky stars that she had not spotted any television cameras, she knew how tricky it could be if someone got footage of them unawares.

 

Taking Dacia into her arms with a small smile for the team still in the motorboat, Jyn looked around her and knew instantly what they wanted to do with Dacia.  Trying not to visibly roll her eyes in irritation, Jyn made her way over to the small ambulance.  Affixing a stern look to her face, as she tried to think of how angry it could make her should Dacia be treated any more than strictly necessary, she was still the woman’s primary physician.

 

“Hello, my name is Sylvie Brett, and this is Jimmy Borelli, all we want to do is make sure that your friend does not catch hypothermia,” Sylvie told the woman with a question in her eyes, no doubt wondering who exactly this woman was and why she was in a position to make demands.

 

Jyn carefully eyed the two of them, not wanting to say a word, let her presence unnerve them enough not to ask them any pesky questions.  Jyn briefly wondered to herself what her Papa would say if he knew that she made such a big deal over questions being asked.  She could tell herself all she wanted that her Papa would have understood the intense need for secrecy and the immense pressures of paranoia hanging at your neck.  But considering some of the shaky memories, she still had of her Mama and Papa; she thought that the two of them would disapprove of Jyn feeling like there was a lodestone hanging around her neck dragging her to the bottom of the cold river.

 

Wanting to watch these people further to ensure that they did not see anything that should cause them further concern, Jyn crossed her arms and watched them silently daring them to take their time.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Cassian rushed up to his friends and took the lone figure from Dacia and nodded silently at Jyn to indicate that he knew what his role was to be in this charade.  Smirking when he saw that the figure beside a barely alert Dacia was still knocked, he felt the satisfaction in knowing that his friend knew how to handle herself.  If Dacia did not want someone to wake up after a fight with her, then she knew damn well how to ensure that whoever her foe was should not wake up easily again.

 

Taking the unconscious cargo into his arms and as Jyn was fond of pointing out, melted back into the shadows.  Hitching the bundle further up in his arms, Cassian took a delicate sniff of the bundle in his arms.  Screwing up his nose in distaste when he realised that the bundle smelled awful.  He would have to make sure that he could shower the man before Dacia began to speak to him.

 

Cassian wondered whether or not Dacia would want the creature to know about the existence of both Cassian and Jyn.  So far, he knew that the creature had only seen Dacia, that might put them into a position of power.  Dacia could occasionally be cautious; if the woman wanted to keep all the cards and the ball firmly in her court, she might want to protect her two friends.  It looked like it would prove to be even more likely when he reminisced that Dacia could sometimes strike with an over-abundance of caution for her friends.  He wondered if Dacia knew how frustrating it was for a spy and a woman who was used to holding her safety in the palm of her hand, to be wrapped in bubble wrap?

 

Something told him that Dacia was not aware, because for not all she wanted was to keep her friends safe, normally a practice that Cassian would approve of, but when it chafed at him with the restrictions he had had enough.  Cassian could not claim to be completely sure, but he felt certain that Jyn felt the same way, to them it did not matter a great deal that it was done from a place of love, it still restricted their movements.  For now, though, Cassian was ready to take some movements for himself, he told himself that Dacia would not be _too_ pissed off with him for taking the initiative.  Especially he gingerly thought, that this creature smelt quite so bad, it might make him smirk to think of it, but he was not interested in gassing Dacia while she tried to find some answers.  Ugh, the woman would no doubt thank him for ensuring that the being she was attempting to wring some answers from was not an affront to her nostrils.

 

Satisfied that the woman would no doubt thank him, he nodded briefly to himself and altered his footsteps.  Making his way into the small medical lab, he eyed the creature and placed them delicately on the small cot bed before sealing the tube.  Standing in front of the control panel, Cassian eyed it with some distaste.  Normally he would not want to perform this act, cleaning without water, but he was unsure what capabilities the creatures had.  He told himself that even Jyn frequently looked like a powerless and vulnerable person when she was asleep, there was no reason to suspect that this creature had been completely upfront with them.

 

Shaking his head and deciding that he would rather not risk it, Cassian turned on the handy washer feature.  With some interest he cast an eye over the tube, watching as the small robots came out and got to work.  He may have watched this sight before, namely the robots beginning to clean without water or soap, he found it to be a distasteful occurrence.  Cassian may have been born in the far stars, running for his life constantly with the hope of gleaning just a tiny bit of information.  You could never get him to lie and say that water was not brilliant.

 

He might struggle to find enough water when the girls were travelling, the frustrations of this Century meant that he would have to be incredibly careful how he filled up this spaceship with water.  For too long he had almost run the spaceship dry, only filling up halfway, unable to justify taking so much water without opening himself up for further questions.  As such, he and his friends had gotten used to rationing the water supply, following the old rules like ‘if it’s brown flush it down, if it’s yellow let it mellow’ wash your hair only when the itching gets unbearable.  More than anything else Cassian missed the times when he could simply luxuriate in a shower, scrubbing at his skin until his muscles screamed out for mercy.

 

He missed being able to feel like he was once again clean, he missed being able to stand in the shower for hours and slowly clean.  It might seem a bit girly, but he took great delight in this Universe in stocking up on shower gels and bath bombs, to someone who even at home had been unable ever to feel completely clean it had seemed like a great luxury.  Cassian had loved when Dacia had been attending Culver University in Virginia; there he had been able to get longer showers.

 

When Dacia had confessed to Jane who they were, he had been able to spend hours under the hot water, his skin going wrinkly in a desire to feel clean.  Jyn had been much the same; he guessed that possibly because the woman had spent so much time either in prisons or running from prisons, she shared a great love for showers.

 

When a small beeping noise shook him from his heavy thoughts, he shook his head and refocused his attention on the small tube in front of him.  Upon seeing that the small robots had completed their tasks, he smirked to himself and pressed another button.  Watching in some amusement as a small puff of air caressed the creature, Cassian felt that he had to wonder whether or not Dacia would find some amusement from his actions.  He hoped that when she smelt the fresh lemon scent in the interview room, she would find a small reason to smile.  Cassian was aware that his friend liked to surround herself with the scent of lemons in times of turmoil.  Hopefully, through doing this, the woman would be able to find a small amount of comfort (or even wry bemusement) when she caught a whiff of the creature. 


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end is here. Dacia does something that she does not particularly like and Cassian readies the spaceship.

Dacia sighed with relief when she stepped out of the shower; her muscles felt like they had been tightened and painful ever since she had taken that sudden trip into the river.  Pulling her damp hair back from her face, she tightened the towel around her body, not wanting to suddenly drop it, not while she was she was still attempting to sort through what she had just done.  She could not work out who that was she had been chasing, who had been fighting with her at the bottom of that river.  It was something that she was not likely to be able to piece together all of the guy’s motivations until she spoke to him.  Until she questioned him to find out exactly what was going on.

 

Making her way through her bedroom, and throwing on a clean plain robe again, it was time for her to get some answers.  No matter how hard it was going to be, she was going to get those answers, whether or crook she thought with a wry smile.  Before she left the room behind her, Dacia ducked over a mirror and tied her hair up in a tight ponytail.  Dacia was well aware that for now, she could be prejudged on her appearance.  If there was so much as a hair out of place, it could lead to someone judging her before she could even open her mouth.

 

Leaving the room behind in a hurry, Dacia made her way through the spaceship, angling her footsteps towards the central computer nodule.  She wanted to be able to speak with both Cassian and Jyn before she went in to speak with the new figure.  She might not be sure how to handle this situation, but she hoped that her friends would have some further ideas on how she should proceed to operate.  For now, she knew that it did sound like a good idea if she was able to discuss with someone else their ideas, it might work to her advantage if she used every trick in the book.

 

Dacia knew at this stage that it was important for her to work along with her friends, they were almost on top of the finish line, so close that she could taste it, taste the sweet freedom.  Or maybe she got freedom mixed up with yet more conspiracy’s, one that could ultimately prove to be more important than she had initially thought.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Making her way into the small computer nodule, Dacia took in the sight of Cassian and Jyn looming over one of the screens in the room.  She wondered what the other two were looking at so intently.  Circling the duo, Dacia raised an eyebrow when she saw that they were looking at a video of the figure she had worked so hard earlier to capture.  Biting her lip while she tried to work out exactly how she should handle this next part.

 

The figure, strangely enough, looked to be male and was close enough to a human at a glance.  Dacia, though had seen enough things in her time as a Jedi Warrior, even if the majority of the time she was working in various libraries in her roles as a diplomatic scholar among the stars.  She might not feel comfortable enough to say whether or not the figure was close to human, or male.  Dacia had had enough experience over her long life that some people did not fall neatly onto the gender spectrum, or who as a species did not have anything approaching what was known on this Earth as a gender.

 

Cassian for one found the whole practice to be confusing, he was not one to fuss whether or not it was a man or woman he was treating with, so he could not understand why someone placed so much weight on something that they had no control over.  Jyn liked to point out that it was part of someone’s identity and asked why they should impose their own identity over the most personal parts of their being.  Dacia liked to laugh and imagine that Jyn would fit in quite well at university, goodness knows that the woman would sometimes hold views that were too liberal to be taken seriously in other walks of life.  She would suspect that the reason her friend held these views was simply that for so long she had spent her life running.

 

“So, have you got any more ideas of what you want me to discuss with the figure in there?  Have we been able to find any identification marks or do any of the records on this spaceship, show as to who this person is?” Dacia sighed.

 

“Not yet, but it is entirely possible that we are looking in the completely wrong direction, or that what we are looking for does not exist,” Jyn muttered, seeming to take the knowledge that she could not adequately place where their prisoner had come from to be an insult.

 

“Peace, woman.  The data on this spaceship is behind the times, do not forget that while it might have once have been accurate and up to date.  It has been many years since we last travelled to our Home Universe, there will be information and things that have slipped through the cracks.  I would not worry too much about it; once you have interviewed the guy, hopefully, we will be able to find some more information about what we can expect from our esteemed guest.” Cassian cautioned, trying to remind Dacia to remain calm.

 

It was more important to him that now Dacia would be able to keep her eyes on the straight and narrow.  He figured that if the woman was able to focus on her goals, they might be able to get home a bit earlier.  The sooner that they were able to wash their hands of the ExVengers or whatever silly term the prisoners in their cells were going be, the better.

 

“Okay, have you decided on how you want to handle this situation?  We need to work out how we want to handle this next part.  If we make a wrong move now, it could easily make our job more difficult from here on out, not that I could believe some days that it could get any more difficult.” Jyn sighed.

 

“Until recently I would have been with you there Jyn.  I thought that it would be best if Dacia were to interview the guy on her own, we can watch from the cameras.  If it is as I thought that until now the guy has been operating in the deluded belief that it is only Dacia in this Universe with the power to cause him any trouble, then it is best that we allow him to believe in this farce as long as possible.  Think, if the guy thinks he can overpower Dacia then he would have to go through the two of us before he can get free.  Use Jyn and me as your hidden trump card, if we need to step in and subdue this guy, then it works out better that he does not know that we are waiting in the wings.” Cassian calmly told the two offering his thoughts.

 

Dacia looked at him, wondering what it said about her that she was willing to consider this idea.  She mulled through a few of the ideas in her head before responding.

 

“Right you are, I think that is what I would I would like to happen.  In the meantime though, Cassian continue flying this rig to the I.C.C headquarters, I want to get rid of the Prisoners before they continue to stench up the place.  Jyn keep an eye on what you can, I want this day to be over cleanly and efficiently.” Dacia ordered the two before sweeping from the room.

 

She wanted this farce of questioning to be done for the day.  It was important to her that now that she could taste freedom on the tip of her tongue, that she should fully taste the sweet tanginess of the flighty mistress called freedom.  Dacia knew that it was important for her to ensure that for now, everything worked as she wanted it too, if she could complete this little part of her mission then everything might work itself out.  Dacia felt like she had to have faith that everything would work out because she did not like to imagine what it could be like if their presence in this world were drawn out even further.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Cassian lost himself for the next few hours by going through some of the last minute things that he wanted to take care of; it would not work for the spaceship to fail them this late in the game.  He had darted away to the cockpit, feeling as if for now his time would be better spent in making sure that they could reach their destination.  He felt that for now, all he could ask of their spaceship was that it continued chugging along for them.

 

He was well aware that there were some parts that he was not entirely comfortable with, for now, he simply wanted to ensure that their spaceship did not fall apart mid-air.  Seated at the cockpit, Cassian kept his hands hovering over some of the controls, ready to jump in at a moments notice if he needed to provide a little help.  Cassian was not sure what he could expect right at this very moment, but rather he wanted to make sure that it could be safe.

 

His fingers continued to hover over the keys, ready to jump in at a moments notice, should be needed to assist.  Cassian hoped that the spaceship would continue to be fine, but he wanted to be ready to throw further help should it be needed.  Cassian was well aware at this point that he was fretting over the spaceship to take his mind off the questioning going on in his spaceship.

 

“Sir, I have scanned through the databanks and bases open to us, something which is already slim on the ground, simply because we are so far from home.  We have not been able to find any new evidence we can use to find out who this man is.  Would you like us to beam the footage from the interview into the cockpit?” K-2S0s words beamed through the speakers.

 

Cassian quietly thought to himself, trying to decide what his next move should be.  Looking over the large array of buttons directly in front of him, imagining his options opening up in front him.  His hands started moving at a faster and faster pace while he tried to work out what he should do next.  Interestingly he was not touching a single button, but rather his hands seemed to be fluttering over the keys while he tried to predict any potential problems.

 

“Sir, if I could remind you that both K-2S0 and myself are working diligently together with Jyn to try and find any clue of the interloper Dacia captured is.  In the meantime the spaceship is plotted to head towards the ICC, would you like to leave the cockpit so you can help Jyn?” BODHI’s irritated voice cut through the silence in the cockpit.

 

Cassian dropped his head to run his hands through his hair; he should know by now that he was not going to get answers if he sat ready to fly the spaceship.  Cassian still had to remind himself that this was exactly what BODHI was supposed to be doing – namely piloting the spaceship when his head was in Cloud City.  With a sigh, he removed his hand from his hands and sighed once again and left the small cockpit behind.

 

_WHOOSH_

 

Jyn meanwhile had missed all of this while she was still combing through the files looking for a clue as to what they could expect.  She had long since realised that the databanks on the spaceship were woefully incomplete, but she was able to tell herself that while she still had a job to perform, she would have to comb through the files.  Sighing not for the first time when she realised that they were possibly being hampered by the fact that when Dacia was still operating in their Home Universe, she still worked as a scholar.

 

Yes, some of the information was fascinating (and downright disturbing to read in parts), but it was not wholly relevant to what she needed.  She suspected that parts of the data had been lost when she could not be sure but some of the information hinted at other long-buried secrets, but never gave a satisfactory answer to some of the questions posed.  Jyn could not even pretend that at one stage she might have found it charming; thanks to her upbringing by Baze, she would easily confess that she had never had a lot of patience to speak of.

 

Running with a guy like Baze would leave anyone else devoid of patience when everything had once been an issue of survival she would posit that it would be difficult for even the likes of Saint Yoda to retain patience with the blasted datafiles.  Jyn felt comfortable in guessing that even if Cassian were here, then he might also struggle to remain calm while he tried desperately to tease out any further information.  Information that no matter what she did to obtain it seemed to be unforthcoming.  For now, she felt grateful that they were still on the spaceship. Otherwise, she knew that the desire to destroy might be too hard to overcome!

 

The thing that bothered her most was not that she had to search for the information, but it was that the information she was looking for was incomplete.  If the files that Jyn was attempting to access offered her some clue as to what she should be looking at next, then she would be giddy with relief.  Alas, she felt like some archaeologist trying to find meaning with incomplete (and often contradicting) information in front of her.

 

Jyn briefly considered that if she wanted to get answers, then the only way she might be able to get them was to speak to the newly captured guy.  Something, she was reluctant to do because she was not sure what the guy was capable off, she could not be sure whether or not she could adequately defend herself against a largely unknown opponent.  It was better that Dacia spoke to their newest prisoner, simply because they had managed to assume that the prisoner knew a measure of the Old Ways.  Jyn might be able to defend herself against some physical attacks, but there were some things that she had no interest in messing with.

 

Disturbed from her introspection and question of her skills when Cassian walked into the small nodule, looking like he was in a bit of a temper.  Jyn wondered whether or not it was worth it for her to try and comfort the guy.  Cassian had said enough things to her in the past when he was still in a towering temper that she felt a small twinge of warning telling her to be careful in how she treated the guy.

 

Shaking her head out while she tried to remind herself that either BODHI or K-2SO had called him out on his over-caution.  Cassian did not do well with the feeling of being helpless; he was more likely to snap if he felt he could truly do nothing help.  It was with these thoughts in mind that Jyn decided that it would be better if she simply spoke with the guy, because if they had an action plan to follow, then it would be the better for both of them.

 

“Would you like to watch the interview with me Cassian?  It might give us some more to do while we wait for Dacia to be finished?” Jyn lightly asked.

 

“Yeah, were you able to find out anything further about our newest friends from the databanks?” Cassian curiously asked.

 

“No, the databanks are woefully incomplete in some parts, it reminds me of what happens when you see archaeologists trying to paint a better picture of life in another time, but most the data has been lost in a fire.  The only thing I can compare it too is attempting to do a massive jigsaw puzzle with half of the pieces missing, or with something spilt over the parts.  I would caution you though to remain confident in Dacia’s ability to ferret out the answers of the prisoner.  We have seen her work with the ExVengers in the spaceship and finding out more about us.” Jyn told the man sounding confident in what she was saying.

 

With those words said, Jyn nodded to herself and turned away to one of the keyboards.  Leaning over it she began to hammer at the keys; she was pulling up the CCTV to the small interrogation room, she wanted to know what was being said just as much if not more than Cassian.  She had felt like her curiosity was being pricked and for now, she wants to follow it to wherever it led her.  Whether or not it led her into the depths of hell was not the biggest concern for her, but rather that it was answered.

 

Raising her head in satisfaction when one of the screens lit up, silently showing them what was happening in the small interrogation room, she exchanged a look with Cassian before pressing a few more buttons and smirking to herself when the sound came on.

 

“- - can you explain to me why you were in Chicago never mind this Universe, you are far from home are you not?” Dacia’s cool voice rang through the speakers.

 

“Why am I here?  Why I was hunting for you, there had long been rumours that someone had escaped the purge of the Jedi Masters of old and I was tasked with hunting you down.  There are even bigger changes coming across the Galaxy that you can imagine.  I wonder does it hurt you to know that there are still things you can not do from here, the blood of the innocent being shed while you hide away from the Light.  I wonder if you feel like you have turned your back on everyone who ever counted on you, because if not for your decision to hide away here like a coward then they might have been safe?” the figure sneered, poison dripping from his lips.

 

“I can admit that it is not a pleasant feeling, but for now I want to know what pushed you to think that it was a good idea to follow us.  Did you not know or did you not care that it was going to be a oneway trip if you pursued us?” Dacia thornily asked.

 

“Oh I knew, but more than anything I wanted you to know how much you left behind, our Home is much different than you could imagine.  New rulers, new rules, still the same old heap of crap as ever.  Some things are better than going home, especially if going home means that you will be landed in the same shit all over again.”

 

“You say that and I believe you, but do you know where Home is for me?  I confess that I am not from any of the larger planets, but why did you decide to follow me out here?  There is no glory for you to be claimed by following us, what made you think that it was a good idea?”

 

“Do not lie to me and tell me that you did not also work and dream of one day getting off Jakku.  As for who my leader is, they were able to show me the truth.  More things can ever be dreamt about in your silly Jedi Scripts.  What do those books tell you about again?  How to properly follow justice?  HAH!  I wipe my arse with the shite you choose to believe in.” the figure angrily spewed, firing his words like darts towards a silent Dacia.

 

Jyn exchanged a nervous look with Cassian, the two of them knew that one of the old tenants of the Jedi Order was that all justice was carried out in-house.  It could often be brutal and violent in it’s appearance to others who did not fully understand the pseudo-religion.  Dacia may be Jyn’s friend, but she could admit that she felt that she still did not fully understand all of what guided her friend.  If Jyn had to guess, she wondered if there was some old fashioned belief-system guiding Dacia’s actions.  No matter how brutal Dacia’s actions could be, Jyn privately thought that sometimes the woman had a reason for some of the unfortunate actions she had undertaken.

 

The look that she shared with Cassian was enough to tell her that her friend felt similarly, but that he would support Dacia no matter what actions she took in the end.  Jyn privately thought that this was possibly all that Dacia could ask from them – namely that they support her through whatever tough actions she had to undertake.

 

Her attention was suddenly jarred back to the present when Dacia began to speak again in a low, measured tone.

 

“You also grew up on Jakku?  My sympathies, there is nothing as irritating as the dry air on that hellhole, but I ask you why did you decide to follow me?  It can not have been an easy decision to make, because you will have left behind everything that you ever loved to chase me.  Can you ever go back?” Dacia attempted to needle the guy, wanting some of the answers to her questions.

 

“My Master, Supreme Leader Snoke made sure that I was able to get back home, all so I could bring back enough firepower to make sure that you meet your maker.”

 

Jyn was suddenly distracted when she spied Dacia gently pulling on her right earlobe, telling Cassian to go through the spaceship they were able to salvage.  It was now that Cassian’s spine straightened up, his eyes flickering over the screen, ready to launch himself into action.

 

“Ahh Snoke, I had wondered if I would ever hear that name again, can you tell me what I had ever done to attract his attention.  I am going to guess that it was something big, otherwise, why would he have sent you so far out to find me?”

 

“He hoped that you might be able to lead him to the final Jedi.  After both Yoda and Kenobi died at the hands of Darth Vader, there was another Jedi, one that was able to defeat Palpatine and he wants to make sure that no one is interested in following them.  He has a chokehold around our Home Universe and the last Jedi, Skywalker has evaded him for too long.”

 

“And how does he imagine that I can lead him to Skywalker, I have never heard of the person unless he means Vader’s real name.  I may not have been instrumental in that fight, but I know what Vader was turned from.  So I ask you again why is he interested in me?”

 

“I was taught that Vader was always perfect, he was always the looming perfectly imperfect villain.  Ready-made and never had the indecency of a good bone left in his body.”

 

“No, Vader was once a human boy from Tatooine, who went by the name of Anakin Skywalker.  Sorry to let you down but your hero was once as human as us.  He had once been a slave before being taken in the Jedi Order.  Is there anything that I am missing here?  Because I warn you that I was once a scholar, facts are firmly in my wheelhouse, because I was a scholar I was able to come and go with nobody noticing me.  I did not choose to fight at the beginning of the downfall, something I wish that I could change, maybe it would have been different, maybe not.  For now, that is not the most important part, are there any other crimes you would like to confess while you still have a chance?”

 

“Not right now, no, the crimes that you suspect I have committed, I will never feel ashamed of.  The only thing I will ever feel ashamed of doing is acting as a Jedi, that filth will never wash me no matter how hard I try.  Do what you will with me, we both know what you wish to do with me, and I for one cannot give a damn about you, because I am in the right.  At the end of the day who fights in your corner?”

 

“That is a good point, but I want you to know that as long as I have strength in my convictions, nothing you can do will ever affect me.  You may have chased me here, but I can tell you that nothing good ever comes from chasing me.  But come now, you do not have to worry about me, from one escapee of the sandy hell that was Jakuu to another, I have people in my corner.  More important than that though, I am ready to defend myself, you see now more than ever, while my circle may have grown smaller, I learned to count on myself.  I learnt how to count on others, something which I feel is very important.  So tell me, do you have any last words?  Any last requests?  As they say on this planet, speak now or forever hold your peace.” Dacia quietly warned.

 

“Charming, but no, I know that even if I give you detailed instructions to follow, it is unlikely that you ever could follow them, because what possible reason would you have to do anything like for me?             We both know that you are going to kill me, so get it over and done with, you are starting to bore me now.”

 

Dacia leaned back in her seat and carefully considered the guy sitting in front of her, Jyn had still not mastered the ability to read her friends thoughts.  She suspected that few could if Jyn had ever found the truth in movies, it would be Shrek.  Her friend was like an onion with the number of layers that she still possessed, every time you thought you had uncovered everything about the woman she could still surprise you.  Jyn idly wondered to herself if there would ever be a time when she found it difficult to be surprised by all that she could learn about her friend.  In any case, it was not this day, Dacia would go on to surprise her.

 

Looking over at the screen once again and trying to decide exactly what had happened, Jyn shook her head as she tried to rid herself of the needlessly errant thoughts.  It troubled her that she could struggle to understand her friend when she began to speak honeyed words in riddles, no matter how hard she tried to rationalise herself with her struggles she would try.  At the end of the day she told herself that Dacia would not lead them into danger with a smile on her face, so why would she begin plotting against them?  It did not fit with what she knew of the woman, though she did figure that Dacia should still be allowed her secrets, she would be in no hurry to disabuse the woman of the notion of carrying her secrets.

The two of them did not have long to wait Cassian thought that Dacia must have either sprinted or walked briskly through the spaceship.  Judging by the fact that the woman’s hair was not in any form ruffled, he thought she had simply walked briskly.  Gulping down the little amount of spittle that he still had in his mouth, when he saw the serious set of Dacia’s face, he wondered what direction this was going to take.

 

“So what do you think?  Are you going to enact Jedi Justice on the guy?  Or wait to hand him over to the courts?” Cassian asked, wanting to get to the heart of the matter.

 

“There is nobody else here to pursue that justice, so it will have to be me.  But you know what the punishment is right?” Dacia sighed, looking irritated with the questions.

 

“Admittedly I do not know a lot about Jedi Justice, but it was brutal was it not?  Do we have to do that?” Jyn looked worried, knowing how much it could cost her friend to follow all of the old tenants that she had once professed to follow to the letter.

 

“I cannot say one way or the other what I should do here.  At the back of mind is a little voice asking who will know if I do not follow it to the letter if I let the guy go.  There is another little voice telling me that I am honour-bound to follow that old Code because who else will stop that guy if he causes trouble elsewhere?” Dacia stressed over her decisions.

 

“It looks as if you are between a rock and a hard place, is there anything that we can say that will make this decision any easier on you?” Cassian worriedly asked, exchanging a look with Jyn over Dacia’s head.

 

“No, I cannot even keep him on this spaceship because I would be too worried about him managing to break free when we least expect it.  But I do not think it would be right if either of you guys were to deal the final blow.  As we have seen in this world ‘The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.’ I do not want to start taking people’s lives willy-nilly, so you can maybe understand why I am hesitant to pass this sentence.” Dacia tried to rationalise.

 

“Dacia, do you think it does not help that it has been so long since you had to carry out this kind of sentence that you find it so difficult to pass now?  What I am trying to ask is whether or not you find it to be distasteful?” Jyn gently asked.

 

“I do find it distasteful to a certain extent, perhaps because now that we have seen that it does not mean that systems of rule fall apart simply because we are not executing our enemies.  I do think that the Jedi Order moved away too much from its peaceful beginning, even if it managed to forget those origins over time.  I do not want to begin to become the type of person that goes out and kills people, because that is not who I want to be.  Does any of this make any sense?” Dacia asked plaintively.

 

“I think it does, but Dacia you understand that you have to stick firm to your ruling.  If we execute this guy, we can try to get back to our Home Universe.  At least now we know that it is possible.” Jyn reminded the woman.

 

“Right, I know what you mean.  Cassian was you able to get into the other spaceship; if we strip it for parts and fuel, we might be able to get back without a great deal of effort.  The effort, which I do not think our spaceship is equipped to handle, at least not right now?” Dacia asked, changing the topic.

 

Cassian gave Dacia a hard look, making Dacia fight herself not to square her shoulders visibly.  She was fully aware that the guy knew enough about her to know that by now she had very little by way of defences if her friends should ask her to spill her guts, then she would have very little recourse but to agree with them.  Cassian smiled at her, both in understanding and victory.

 

“Yeah, I have, I do not think that we will be needed to hang around while the ExVengers are processed.  As you have alluded to dear Dacia, we have our forms of Justice to observe.  The only reason that we have not followed them in this so-called Justice is simply that they do not fall under our jurisdiction.  We need to be careful how we proceed here.” Dacia told them still not feeling comfortable enough to state her own opinions one way or the other.

 

“That is what we should do.  Dacia would you like to go and deal with our newest friend and Jyn, and I can look after getting the ExVengers settled?  Or do you still want to be the front for it?” Jyn asked the woman.

 

“No, I think I can deal with the prisoner first.  If any else I owe the guy that, or at least I owe us that much.  It should not take too long, after all, unless he demands a trial by combat, that alone could throw us further into the shit.  Cassian, if you continue guiding the spaceship as you have been, I should be free when we arrive.  Does that sound good?” Dacia directed.

 

Cassian nodded thoughtfully, he already knew enough to surmise that while they had enough of the special fuel that would allow them to punch out of this universe.  They did not have enough to waste by using it simply to make their lives easier, not at this point.  He resolved to read through some of the logs he had been able to salvage and find out the ins and outs of their new friends plan.  Cassian did not want them to be caught unawares.

 

“Yes, that is good.  Jyn and I will remain hidden away because we do not want to call attention to ourselves, while that guy could still harm us.  Do not put us in more harm than we need to be.” Cassian told Dacia, wanting to make sure that the woman understood his point of view.

 

Dacia nodded slowly and stood still for a few moments.  She began to peer around the room and made sure to grab her lightsabre; she thought to herself that there was little point in her enacting Justice unless she had her lightsabre.  It might seem daft, but Dacia had had firmly put into her head that she could only demand justice if she carried the correct weapon.

 

Putting the weapon at her waist before she left the room, Dacia made her way back to prisoner block and after swiping her card carefully, made her way into the small interrogation room.  Satisfied that at least her prisoner was unable to move, she briefly thought to herself that Cassians’ knots at the least were difficult to break.  Even for someone who may or may not have once had similar (if not identical) Jedi training as Dacia.  She might be a long way from home, but there were still some things that she could still honour.  The small observances of her old customs being one such thing.

 

She was relieved that even though neither Cassian or Jyn observed the customs, Dacia was sure that she had heard Cassian deride it behind her back, but they never anything to her face.  They knew that to Dacia her old customs were incredibly important and allowed her to get on with what was important simply.

 

Clearing her throat, know that all of the introspection she was doing was getting her nowhere, she knew that at least she could pontificate over all the reasons she had to carry out her actions.  It would get her nowhere; she was nothing if not a prize procrastinator!

 

“So, before I carry out the sentence, do you have any further words?  As they say, speak now or forever hold your peace.” Dacia imperiously asked.

 

The man peered up at her, insolently, swallowing down what were no doubt offensive statements.

 

“There is nothing that I can say now that will change my ultimate fate.  I ask that you do it quickly.  There is nothing worse than knowing that the end rapidly approaches and be powerless to stop it.” Her newest prisoner spoke.

 

Dacia had to admit that she felt a begrudging amount of respect for the man.  She could not help but admire that the man felt safe enough in his beliefs to only ask for a quick death.  She could once remember hearing rumours of some of the Jedis of old dragging out a death sentence.  Dacia rather felt that she did not have the stomach to do that, she would rather that it happened quickly before she had conscious enough to admit that she was dead.

 

Looking down at the prisoner in front of her, Dacia took in a deep breath, steeling herself for what she was about to do.  She was vaguely aware that she was doing nothing more than wasting time, but there was something about this moment that she abhorred.  She supposed that it did not help her, that she had to be so brutal, she wondered if this part was more difficult on her or the prisoner in front of her.

 

Gesturing to the ground between the two of them, Dacia made sure to carefully uncuff the prisoner and made sure that he would not attempt to run anywhere.  She cocked her head to the side as she tried to think what she would do next.  With another gesture she motions for the man to sink to his knees, she was not interested in looking the man in the eyes as the life left his body.  Pushing a hood over the table, Dacia allowed the man time to put it on; she did not want the man to think that she was hurrying him along.

 

Before the hood was pulled over his face completely, she noted a sick smirk steal across the face of their Prisoner.  Not wanting to pause and wonder if she was about to walk into a trap, Dacia eyed the man jam the hood over his head with a kind of quiet dignity that she hoped she was able to match.  Attempting once again to hide her impatience, it was not her end at stake here; she could easily stop and allow the man time to get his thoughts in order.  It was the least he deserved after all!

 

When the man had the hood pulled securely over his face, Dacia’s hand drifted to the metallic tube at her waist.  She gently pulled it free with her thumb, she turned the weapon on and paused for a moment to watch the long blade spring from its casing.  Briefly marvelling, as she frequently did, at the sheer power coming from the shining blade, Dacia did not want to spend the time by flicking the weapon around her head.  The man already knew what was going to happen to him, Dacia refused to become the kind of person who took a sick sense of pleasure from the suffering of others.

 

With that said, she swiped the blade down, briefly listening to the singing sound that the blade made before burying it in their prisoner's chest.  Feeling almost puffed out from that one little bit of exercise, Dacia reflected once again that she so hated this part of her belief system.  She could lie to others all she wanted and say that it was for the benefit of others, but she did not think she was capable of lying to herself.  Cassian would likely point out that if Dacia should ever begin believing in her lies, then it could spell an even greater amount of trouble.  Dacia did not want to begin borrowing additional trouble when she did not need too.

 

Trying not to thank her lucky stars when she realised that it was a very good thing that no blood or gore remained attached to the blade, which was otherwise made of light.  Dacia felt no desire to inspect that part of herself, so she simply thanked all of the gods she could see and could not see but rather feel, that she did not need to worry about her prized weapon becoming unsightly.  She closed the weapon again, not wanting to dwell on some of the things that she had to carry out for an overly long period.  With these thoughts in mind, she made her way back to the central computer nodule, wanting to make sure that she was kept up to date with their discoveries.

 

Making her way through the silver spaceship, Dacia had to work to reign in her temper, before she should do something that she would further regret.  It was not a great amount of time that she found herself alone with her thoughts, all too soon she was stood at the door to the central computer nodule.

 

_WHOOSH_

“So, are we any closer to the ICC?  There is a way that we could leave behind this Universe; something tells me we may be needed at home.” Dacia muttered.

 

“Yeah, we should be there soon, Dacia would you like Jyn to handle handing off those people?  You look as if a strong breeze could knock you away” Cassian asked worriedly.

 

Jyn had looked up, a bit irritated when she heard her friend offer her services without having the courtesy to ask her first.  Looking at Dacia though, she could understand why her friends had bits of blood splattered across the front of her robes and a genuine world-weary look in her eyes.  Deciding that it would be best for all concerned if she were to take the reins now, she calmly directed her friend.

 

“That might for the better.  Before you two go in though, put on dark pantsuits, I shudder to imagine the funny looks we get if we go in dressed as we are, you know that they will not understand our preference for robes.”

 

“Speak for yourself, neither Cassian nor I enjoy wearing those stuffy robes!” Jyn lightly spoke, wanting to cheer up her friend.

 

A sudden smile crossed Dacia’s face, allowing the load on Jyn’s face to lighten slightly, thinking that now she had been lucky enough to make her friend smile.  Even though it was simply a small smile, Jyn would take her victories where she could get them.  Goodness knows that at times in the past, she had become sadly accustomed to taking her small victories while they could.  Now that they were about to rid themselves of the ExVengers, Jyn saw no reason that would change; she had long since stopped believing that life could ever be kind towards her.  For too long, she had spent her life hurtling from one dangerous situation to the next; she would hesitate to believe that things were going to change positively for her.

 

Watching as Dacia stumbled away from the small room, Jyn tried not to audibly cluck her teeth when she realised that her goals weres being met.  It was a hard thing, but at least only Cassian was here to witness Jyn’s matronly ways!  The spaceship shuddered to a halt beneath her feet as she nodded at Cassian.

 

The two of them left the room behind as one, ready to change to get the next part over and done with.  They did not wish to spend a great amount of time, tarrying when they could be doing something a bit more productive with their time.

 

When Jyn had changed her clothes into a plain dark suit, she exited her small room and paused only long enough to poke her head into Dacia’s room.  Feeling something akin to satisfaction when the room was dark enough that she could only spy a heap in the middle of the bed.  She felt relieved now that Dacia was going for a nap, it was something that she felt that the woman no doubt needed.  Listening for a second to the soft snoring of the woman, she gently shut the door as she made her way to the doors into the prison cells.

 

Meeting Cassian there, the two of them simply nodded at one another before entering the room in silence.  Jyn made her way over to the computer and flicked her eyes over the features one last time.  It would seem as if she had finally managed to achieve something.  She lifted her head briefly and peered over at Cassian who shook his head carefully.  Jyn sighed but realised that it would do her no good to release the full sedative on those people, mainly because she was sure now that the people at the ICC knew enough to anticipate their arrival.  Hopefully, this visit would not take them too long.

 

They managed to arrange the former Avengers between them and left the cells behind, with their new crew gifts arranged around them.  Cassian thought briefly that this part was tricky, he had to keep on his toes, with his head on a swivel to ensure that the two of them were not overpowered.  Not wanting to pause long enough to blink stupidly in the light, Cassian led them quickly to the receiving security team.

 

He had made sure to turn on the spaceships camouflage option; now it would only look like a particularly tricked out QuinJet, not anything capable of space travel.  He supposed that the fact they came with the words of Stark Industries vouching for them would lend credence to the idea that it was new tech they were messing around with.  Even if it annoyed him that others would not be able to appreciate either his or Jyn’s ideas, it was easier for them this way.

 

Glancing above him at the sky he scowled briefly when he realised that it was raining. Hopefully, that would speed up matters a bit, nobody wanted to stand around and get wet after all!

 

“Hello, these are the former Avengers we have rounded up here, can you take it from here?” Cassian asked without bothering to introduce himself.

 

“Yes, yes, but are you sure that you would not like a tour or an explanation of what we are going to do with here?” the lead man replied, shouting a little to make himself heard over the rain.

 

“No, we are simply the instruments, not the conductor.  If you should need to get in touch with us, you can get in contact with us through Ms Potts.  But maybe do not need us?  We have handed you what you need and now want to wash our hands of this whole sorry affair.” Cassian told them.

 

Cassian backed up from the people and nodded his head once before directing Jyn away from the people.  He did not want to linger overly long in this rain.  He did not want to tarry longer than needed on this planet.  Hearing his trust tablet beep at his waist, Cassian hurried his footsteps to their vessel wanting to see what had happened.  He could only hope for now that it was going to be good news, he felt that he needed a bit more good news, he felt that both he and his friends needed a bit of good news.

 

Smiling when he realised that it was indeed good news, they could go home, both K-2SO and BODHI had completed the required calculations while they had been busy.  Pausing only long enough to run his eyes over the figures of the small screen in front, Cassian raised a brow when he realised that it looked as if it added up.  Was this possible, could they go home for real now?

 

Hurrying his footsteps to the cockpit and hearing Jyn run after him.  He wondered at what point his friend had known him so well to know when he was receiving good news.  No matter, now though, because they would finally have something to look forward too.

 

He would have to hope that this spaceship would hold up when he put it through its paces and opened her up.  Muttering as he worked with some of the controls, Cassian wondered if there was a possibility that this would be the last time that he performed these actions.  For now, he only hoped that he was not about to blow them all up.

 

Finally having completed all of the requisite safety checks, he pulled back on the lever between him and the co-pilot seat before easing it back.  He watched as the ship began to lift up, this part was normal, but the next part could get tricky.  It was something that he had not done in a great deal of time.

 

Looking out of the windows, he watched as the Earth began to drop away beneath him, before resting his hand over another lever and easing it back, hoping that he would begin to see the stars outside blurring as they pushed through hyperspace.

 

 _To infinity and beyond_ he thought.  Let’s see if he was right to be worried about this randomer Snoke.

 

**C’est fini**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die." I paraphrased it in the text but it's a quote from the A Song Of Ice And Fire books (the first book Game of Thrones) and the series. I've started reading fanfiction on it and thinking about the series more.
> 
> If you liked the series, review or leave me a Kudos. I feel like going to sleep now!


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